Star Wars: Return of the Sith
by Nanaki
Summary: Set in 230 A.B.Y. What should have been an ordinary mission for Mandalorian bounty hunter Jerin Danar soon expands to involve Jedi, Sith, Hutts, more Jedi, more Sith, and a whole ship full of Twi'lek girls. And that's only the beginning...
1. The New Lords

**Star Wars: Return of the Sith**

**1: The New Lords**

By Nanaki

Coruscant

"Are you SURE she is the one we want?"

"For the hundredth time, yes, she is ideal."

"I'd greatly prefer it if she were-"

"Human. Yes, I know. Though you have yet to provide me with any logical reason WHY. From the neck down, her species is virtually identical to yours. And mine."

"Very well, if you insist. If our attempts to duplicate the experiment are successful, we can always repeat it later with a human, anyway."

"We COULD, but we won't need to. Not unless you're hoping to create usurpers, instead of successors."

"I fear that's what YOU'RE doing."

"You? Afraid? Ha! Feel free to oversee everything, if you wish."

"Heh. If you insist..."

* * *

Several Months Later...

The elongated transport ship was ultimately heading for Bastion, though it would be making several stops along the way. Most of the passengers on board were quietly grumbling to themselves, because the layover on Coruscant hardly gave them enough time to peruse a few shops adjacent to the landing pad, never mind taking a good trip to one of the highlights of the Republic capital. The Senate Hall or the Jedi Temple would have to wait for another visit, and while visits to Coruscant weren't expensive, they were usually a hassle to arrange.

So pretty much the entire complement of the transport raised their heads as one when two people dressed in black Jedi robes boarded. Excited whispering started at the front and quickly spread back as a few people caught glimpses of lightsabers clipped to belts. But then, the two apparent Jedi turned to look a the myriad variety of beings who were obviously talking about them, and the talk died as quickly as it had begun.

The shorter of the pair was human, with dark brown hair and a rather severe look on his face. He might have been considered handsome, if his expression wasn't so dour. As the talk died, he found his seat in the front of the passenger area and dropped into it without another look.

The taller of the two was Zabrak, with thick black tattoos covering his face, and presumably the rest of him, in a design similar to that of the legendary Darth Maul. Where the black didn't cover though, his natural skin color showed through. He had a neutral expression on his face, until a small Mon Calamarian, apparently too young or too oblivious to notice her mother's anxious expression, waved at him excitedly. A slight smile appeared on his face and he waved back, then took his seat.

The young Mon Calamarian managed to lean into the aisle despite her mother's attempts to hold her back, and called up to the Zabrak with a voice that was somehow both high pitched and gravelly. "Hey, you're really him, aren't you? You're Darth Negian!"

He turned around in his seat and smiled again. "Yeah, that's me." Instantly, many of the adults aboard began checking to make sure that their concealed blasters were still where they'd hidden them.

The young Mon Calamarian continued, not noticing. "Why are you taking a transport instead of your own ships?"

"My thoughts exactly." The black-clad human snorted, without turning around.

"Because..." The Zabrak directed his answer toward his partner. "Many people find our personal starships very intimidating... that is, scary." He clarified when a look of confusion appeared on the youngling's face. "And we're not taking this trip to intimidate anyone."

"Why ARE you taking this trip?" The little Mon Calamarian's mother finally got up the nerve to ask, her fear diminished somewhat by the Zabrak's friendly manner. He certainly didn't ACT like the Sith Lord he was reputed to be.

"Our purpose is none of your business." The human said in an impatient voice.

Darth Negian sighed, then laughed a bit. "That's true, as far as it goes. I can't tell you the specifics. Suffice it to say, we're on our way to recover something of great value to us."

As he sank back into his seat and the ship began to rumble as its sub-lights came on, most of the passengers began to whisper quietly about the two black-robed Force users. Darth Seco and Darth Negian were the two latest Lords of the Sith to trouble the galaxy. Only, they hadn't done much in the way of troubling so far. When the two had been declared by the Jedi to be the founders of a new Sith order, the galaxy at large had expected an epic lightsaber duel between the Sith and the Jedi higher-ups to be beamed over the HoloNet soon after. But, as the Jedi repeatedly told the reporters who kept pestering them, there was no evidence that the new Sith had done anything wrong.

Of course there were rumors. Rumors of red lightsabers sending heads flying in distant corners of the galaxy, and always reportedly on the opposite side of the galaxy from the planet the rumor originated on. Rumors also abounded that the two had a "secret lab" on Coruscant close to the Senate Hall, even though decades of careful mapping had made sure every nook and cranny within a twenty mile radius of the triangle formed by the Senate Hall, Jedi Temple, and the recently renovated 500 Republica was well explored.

"What could Korgo be thinking?" Darth Seco grumbled as the star field outside his viewport was replaced by hyperspace.

"Well, he's either trying to undermine our efforts, or trying to increase his standing in our eyes." Negian shrugged. "It's quite possible he's trying to do both at once. He is a Hutt, after all."

"We never should have told him about this project." Seco shook his head.

"We didn't, really." Negian shrugged again. "But mention the name 'Darth Plagueis' and that's what instantly springs to mind."

"How did he find out it was her, though?"

"It doesn't matter." A calm smile returned to Negian's face. "A day from now, she'll be safely in our custody back on Coruscant. I got the impression from Korgo that he only sent one bounty hunter after her, so it shouldn't be a problem."

"For us, of course not." Seco's grimace remained unchanged. "But for her..."

Negian's smile also didn't waver. "Well, that's what makes this outing so very interesting."

.

"May you live in interesting times." - Traditional Chinese curse

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(Nanaki's note: Return of the Sith? Been there, done that, right? Hopefully this opening chapter introduced enough mysteries to get you curious about what comes next. But before we continue to chapter 2, I've got plenty of author's notes for you. Here's what I had to say about the timeline back when I first started getting ideas for this story in 2006: "_Return of the Sith_ takes place roughly 230 years after the original Star Wars film. Why? Well, I never thought I'd be mad at Star Wars, (After all, Jar Jar Binks hadn't bothered me, and I thought that if he didn't, nothing could.) but on May 21st, 2006, I was. I had just picked up the new Star Wars Insider, and inside was an article about the upcoming comic book series _Star Wars Legacy_, which would be set ten years AFTER I had originally planned this story to take place. If I wanted to keep this story in the same time frame, I now had to make sure it lined up with what happened in _Legacy_, which would be an impossible task, since I didn't know what would happen in the series yet. Plus, even the barest of plot details conflicted with my ideas for the future of the Star Wars galaxy. _Legacy_ will feature a "New Empire", while I had planned for the Republic to be back in full swing.

"So, if I didn't want to conflict with official reality, I had two options: Wait, (Which is what I'm having to do with my ideas for a killer Naruto story, and it's driving me nuts.) or change the time the story takes place in. I went with the second choice. I considered moving the story to the Old Republic era, but the strict Jedi code of that era would make a lot of my main plot points impossible. I also wanted the events of the movies to have an influence to some degree, but to have it be far enough in the future where none of the main movie, or expanded universe characters, were still alive. So forward another hundred years we went. In the end, I don't think it'll make a lot of difference, and if _Legacy_ makes any aspect of this story seem impossible, I'm sure I'll find a way to explain it. Unless they blow up Coruscant. Or Ziost. ;)"

Thankfully, _Legacy_ turned out to be insanely awesome, and I no longer have any urge to write a Naruto story, because it's become apparent that Kishimoto is going to cover every possible story himself, given enough time. Anyway, I'm going to be as vague as possible about what happened to Cade, but it's quickly going to become obvious that he lived long enough to reproduce. But really, is that such a shock? As Peter/Han/Carlos Spicywiener told Lois/Leia in _Something Something Something... Dark Side_: "Look, we've got four of the six main characters right here on this ship. I think we're gonna be just fine."

Finally, you may have noticed that I gave a distance in miles up above, instead of using the metric system, which is what's used in the Star Wars novels and everywhere on Earth but the United States. So, guess where I live. I actually thought about it a lot before settling on non-metric measurments, but Star Wars is a franchise created by an American, featuring a mostly American cast. (No offense to Alec Guinness, Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, or Ian McDiarmid, who are all awesome.) Plus, the bulk of my readers here at FFN are from the US, so I decided miles was the way to go. Though the metric system may still make an appearance from time to time, since Star Destroyers are described as being exactly one kilometer long, and I doubt that translates to a nice, even number in feet. All right, on to chapter 2!)


	2. Enter the Mandalorian

**Star Wars: Return of the Sith**

**2: Enter the Mandalorian**

By Nanaki

Above Brentaal

You can't judge a Mandalorian by his armor. Or his complete lack thereof. Though Jerin Danar was not currently wearing any of his people's trademark armor except his boots, people still gave him plenty of room as he moved through the crowd. Located right where the Perlemian Trade Route intersected the Hydian Way, Brentaal Station was as packed as any popular marketplace on Coruscant. Those who saw Jerin coming though, took care to stay well out of his path. He was a bit concerned, since he had purposefully not worn his armor in order to blend in. Then he realized that the jostling of the crowd had caused the heavy repeating blaster strapped to his back to slide into a position where it was rather obvious, even under the cloak he wore. Once he'd worked it back into place between his back and right arm, he blended back into the crowd.

It was all too easy to do, he reflected. This station was a great place to hide in plain sight, which was almost certainly what his quarry was doing here. Even Jerin's trained eyes didn't quite have time to scan everyone in his field of vision before they were out of it. He really could have used the infrared sensors in his helmet to differentiate among species right now, but then, his search was over. His target was sitting at a table with several other females of her species, right at the front of the restaurant where they were having lunch. It was very exposed, and she knew it too, to judge from the way her eyes were darting back and forth. On the other hand, looking like you didn't care whether or not you were noticed was a good way to NOT get noticed. If it wasn't for the poorly concealed anxiety on her face and the darting eyes, Jerin might have thought he had the wrong Twi'lek. That is, if she wasn't purple.

"She'll be easy enough to spot." Korgo the Hutt had told him. "Because she's got purple skin. Have you ever seen a purple Twi'lek before? Didn't think so."

It had surprised Jerin, since Twi'leks were so prismatic compared to most other species. He'd seen white, red, blue, green, yellow, orange, turquiose, and probably a few other shades he'd forgotten about, but never purple. Until now. He drew up short by the restaurant's entrance, pretending to read the menu, while continuing to observe out of the corner of his eye. She was dressed more conservatively than the other Twi'lek women at the table, presumably her friends, who were wearing the usual midriff baring tank tops common to their race. She was wearing a white long sleeved shirt that was very flattering to her figure, not that her figure needed flattery. As Jerin finally felt sure that he had scanned the table to the point where there shouldn't be any nasty surprises for him of the blaster variety, he began to calmly walk forward. Jerin also noticed that she was pretty small. She couldn't have been over 5'3", and she looked kind of delicate.

Her eyes fixed on him almost immediately, and she went rigid as she watched him approach the table. She seemed unusually afraid, especially since he wasn't wearing his armor, and ESPECIALLY since everyone involved in this business seemed to want her alive and unharmed. Though from what Jerin had heard, she wasn't the criminal type, so she probably had never had bounty hunters after her before. In one fluid motion, his three hundred year old, chrome plated blaster slid down his sleeve, into his hand, and into a fixed position about six inches away from her head. "Tenn Sonata, let's do this without a lot of fuss, shall we?" The other women at the table suddenly went still, their eyes converging on the blaster. "That goes for the rest of you too. My blaster's on stun, but even so, getting shot isn't a lot of fun." Turning back to Tenn, he was surprised to see that her eyes remained fixed on his face, not the blaster. That was more than a little unusual.

"Please..." She whispered through clenched teeth, "You can't take me back to them." Jerin wasn't blind to the fact that her eyes were starting to moisten with tears. She was definitely new to this, all right. "They'll kill me."

"No they won't." Jerin said easily. "I know, normally delivering a young lady to a Hutt doesn't bode well, but Korgo's just the middleman on this one. He had a contract from the Bounty Hunters' Guild that he needed someone to take care of, and that contract specifically stated you were to be brought in alive and unharmed. That's the Republic definition of 'unharmed', not the Hutt one."

"They may not kill me right away, but I know they will within a year. I know it." The last sentence was partly a sob.

Jerin scratched his head with his free hand. "I can tell that you really believe what you're saying, but the problem is, I don't care a whole lot. Everyone's got some sob story about why I shouldn't bring them in-" Whatever else Jerin had been about to say left his mind as something tugged his blaster toward the ceiling. As soon as he felt the movement, he fired, but the weapon was already way too high. Far faster than he would have thought she could, Tenn dropped to the floor and aimed a sweeping kick at his legs. He wouldn't have thought her slight frame could generate enough force to knock him over, but he was very wrong. She had both hands and her other knee on the ground, and her aim was perfect. Her leg slammed into the back of his knees, his legs went flying out from under him, and the impact of his back hitting the floor knocked the wind out of him.

He was up on his elbow a split second later, but she was already disappearing into the crowd. Jerin was a fantastic shot, but even so, he didn't want to risk it. Less than ten seconds later, Jerin had forced the breath back into his lungs and was charging after her. He could make out her lekku through the crowd, but they didn't seem to be getting any closer. She could definitely run, and her smaller size gave her the advantage in negotiating the crowd. But then, she made a big mistake. Apparently thinking that her leg sweep had delayed Jerin a lot longer than it actually had, she turned down a smaller and much less crowded hallway. She was probably thinking that she could run through it before Jerin even got to the entrance, but he was no slouch in the running department himself. She took a glance over her shoulder, and almost collapsed in surprise when she saw that Jerin was only about ten paces behind her.

Absolutely sure of his shot now, Jerin raised his blaster... only to stare at his empty hand in astonishment as he heard the blaster clanking to the ground in the hallway behind him. Confident that he could subdue her without it, he continued his charge down the hallway, but his mind was racing. His blaster pointing toward the ceiling back at the restaurant, and now the blaster actually falling from his sure grip... there was only one explanation. It had to be the Force. That DEFINITELY hadn't been in the report. There was no way Korgo was getting her for the stated price now. The Hutt would have to cough up a lot more... if Jerin could ever catch her. It was ridiculous, all things considered. At six feet tall, his stride had to be a LOT longer than hers, and yet he couldn't seem to close the distance any more.

Suddenly, they were at the end of the hallway, and she raced around the corner to the left. Jerin put his left hand on the wall to help him keep his balance on the sharp turn... and almost ran into her before he could stop himself. "What the...?" She was standing still as a statue, her eyes fixed on the two people in front of them. Jerin quickly grabbed hold of her left arm with his right, but she barely seemed to notice. Now that the chase was apparently over, Jerin took a moment to study the two strangers himself.

"Gee, that was quick." Observed a tall Zabrak covered with jagged black tattoos.

"I'd say the Force was definitely on our side for this one." A human with dark hair nodded, a smug smile on his face.

"Tenn, good to see you again!" The Zabrak called genially. Jerin noticed that they both wore black robes and carried lightsabers.

'Korgo, what the hell have you gotten me into?' He wondered. Tenn tensed like she was about to break into a run again, but Jerin tightened his grip. "Don't even think about it." He said, quietly but with an intensity that most people didn't want to argue with.

To his surprise, she just shrugged and snorted. "If you had any sense, you'd be getting ready to run too."

"You there, take your hands off her!" The human ordered as he strode forward.

Jerin reached behind his back with his left arm, coming up with his heavy repeating blaster a second later. "This is MY quarry, Jedi."

"I'm not a Jedi, bounty hunter, I'm a Sith." Seco stopped where he was, his right hand going to his lightsaber.

"Even better." Jerin grinned.

Negian smiled as well. "What an interesting thing to say." He observed. "Tell me, why is that better?"

"Two reasons." Jerin adjusted his aim slightly, so that the blaster was aimed about halfway between Negian and Seco. "First off, the Jedi Order won't be after me if I kill you." Seco snorted derisively. "And second, for the last four years, I've been searching for a battle appropriate for my death."

Negian raised an eyebrow at this, but Seco simply unclipped his lightsaber from his belt. "Well then, you've found it, unless you release her right now."

"Sorry, but someone asked Korgo the Hutt to find this young lady, and he hired me." Jerin shrugged.

"Would it make any difference if I told you Korgo works for us?" Negian wondered aloud.

"Are you ready to pay the bounty then?" Jerin asked.

"Don't be an imbecile." Seco held his lightsaber forward.

Jerin's grin got bigger. "Sith, you have no idea what you're dealing with." With that, he let go of Tenn with his right hand and thrust it forward, making a grasping motion. To the immense surprise of both Sith, Seco's lightsaber rocketed out of his grip and into Jerin's. Jerin's thumb hit the activation switch as if he'd already known where it was, and he was surprised to see that the blade was purple, not red.

The sudden silence was broken by the sound of Negian trying to stifle his laughter, and not succeeding. "Something funny, Negian?" Seco asked in a tight voice.

"Extremely." Negian nodded, a big grin on his face. "Don't worry, I'll take care of it." He began to walk forward.

"Hmm..." Jerin looked back and forth between the two, then turned to Tenn. "Are these the people you're afraid Korgo's going to send you back to?" She nodded, though she didn't take her eyes off them. "Then I've got a feeling I'm not getting paid no matter who wins. Here, hold this." To her immense surprise, Jerin handed over his heavy repeating blaster. "Haaaah!" Jerin charged forward, Seco's lightsaber held above his head.

As Jerin drew near, Negian calmly drew out two rods that looked more like elongated writing implements than lightsaber hilts. However, as he flicked on activation switches, a thin blue blade erupted from both ends of each, for a total of four. Then, as Jerin drew within striking range, he began to twirl them rapidly between his fingers, effectively surrounding himself with whirling blue blades. Negian's face still projected amusement as Jerin closed in with a diagonal slash. He easily batted Jerin's attack aside with one weapon, while slashing at his opponent's exposed side with the other. Jerin somersaulted forward, out of the way, then slashed at Negian's ankles with the humming purple blade in his hand.

Negian simply jumped above the attack, then stabbed downward with both of his weapons. However, he found himself being nudged backward by a Force push that was just strong enough to make him miss. As his weapons plunged into the floor of the station, Jerin curiously aimed both feet at Negian, then pushed a button on his belt. The next thing Negian knew, he had flown over sixty feet down the hallway, where he landed with a heavy thud. As he picked himself up, a few spectators who'd thought they'd be safe here turned to run farther down the hall. "Repulsorlift boots." Negian observed dryly as he charged back toward his opponent. "In addition to being a classified Mandalorian technology, they're also incredibly expensive."

As Negian got close again, Jerin aimed a sweeping cut at where his opponent's unique weapons were still sticking up out of the floor, slashing through both hilts. Not missing a beat, Negian drew a more traditional lightsaber as he continued to sprint forward, activating its red blade just in time to cross blades with Jerin. "You must be one of Fett's descendants." Negian concluded as he strained against the Mandalorian's surprisingly strong grip.

"That would explain the complete lack of fear." Seco observed from where he stood with his arms folded, calmly watching the action. "Tell me, what's your name?"

"About time you got around to asking." Jerin said through gritted teeth. "I'm Jerin Danar. I wish I could say it's nice to meet you, but you two are kind of jerks."

"I feel the same about you." Negian admitted, then twisted out of the stalemate to slash at Jerin's legs. Instead of the desperate block he'd been expecting though, Jerin brought his lightsaber down in a vicious two handed chop. When Negian's strike failed to do more than leave a scorch mark on Jerin's boot, it was the Sith's turn to desperately somersault out of the way. "Well, well." Negian sounded a little impressed. "Repulsorlift boots, AND they're made out of beskar? You just have more money than you know what to do with, don't you?"

"Nope." Jerin shrugged. "But if you're going to do something, you might as well do it right." He regretted his brief conversation as the lightsaber he was holding was jerked out of his hand, to go sailing back into Seco's.

"He's got a point." Seco nodded. "So let's kill him already."

.

"Thank you for that entertaining diversion. You may die now." - Sesshomaru, _Inu-Yasha (manga version)_

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(Nanaki's note: Don't be fooled by the fan art, folks. In actual Star Wars canon, I have seen exactly ONE purple Twi'lek. That was the Sith Lord Kopecz, who was part of Kaan's Brotherhood of Darkness circa 1,000 B.B.Y. Also, it seemed to me that Kopecz's coloration could have been caused by or been a symbol of his devotion to the dark side, and not his natural color. If it was his natural color, then perhaps the exceedingly rare purple is a sign of a strong connection to the Force...)


	3. Skywalking

**Star Wars: Return of the Sith**

**3: Skywalking**

By Nanaki

Brentaal Station

Tenn was completely astonished that a non-Jedi had managed to last this long against Negian, even if Jerin clearly knew a few things about the Force himself. However, now that Seco was stepping in as well, it would be over very quickly. It was definitely choosing the lesser of two evils, but Tenn liked her odds better with the Mandalorian than with the Sith. She raised the heavy repeating blaster to her shoulder and lined up the sight with her right eye. Yet before she could pull the trigger, Jerin astonished her yet again.

"If you want to kill ME, you'd better show me something more impressive than you have so far." Jerin growled, and reached behind his back again. He drew out a gleaming lightsaber hilt that produced a jet black blade when he ignited it.

Negian raised an eyebrow again. "If you made that yourself, I'm impressed."

Seco snorted. "Negian, let me handle this fool by myself."

Negian shrugged. "If you feel the need to prove your manhood to a peon like this, be my guest."

Seco grimaced, though his eyes remained on Jerin. "Negian... shut up." Then, Seco charged forward. Jerin stepped forward to meet his charge with a wide horizontal slash, but Seco didn't even bother to block. He simply wasn't there.

Tenn had known that Jerin would be hopelessly outclassed even before Seco moved. She knew that Seco was proficient in both Makashi and Ataru, meaning that he could deliver many strikes per second, and that he was so good at dodging he rarely needed to block. Now, as Seco darted behind Jerin and aimed a slash at the back of his neck, Tenn finally pulled the trigger on the blaster.

Seco sensed her hostile intent through the Force, and was already in an excellent blocking position by the time the first bolt reached him. He easily batted away the rain of bolts, his purple blade seeming to blossom into a double figure eight pattern. Fortunately, this bought Jerin enough time to body check Seco into the floor, with Jerin adding a Force powered burst of speed at the last second that resulted in his opponent sliding for over thirty feet before coming to a stop.

"Hmm..." Seco quickly spun back to his feet, not looking hurt or winded in the least. "I guess that's about all I could expect." Then he jumped into a Force powered triple somersault, his purple blade spinning around him all the while. Jerin stepped forward to block the attack, but Seco hit with too much power, and Jerin was knocked over backward. Jerin quickly aimed his boots at Seco, just as he'd done to Negian, but by the time he hit the button on his belt, Seco was long gone.

Seco had jumped in the air again, and now came at Jerin with a descending slash. Jerin blocked with both hands on his blade, and even so, Seco's blade almost cut down into his neck. Jerin grimaced, mad at himself for having to use his trump card so soon, but there was no doubt that he did need to use it. He stretched his left hand out... then quickly rolled to the side as another hail of blaster bolts caused Seco to jump away.

"Hey Negian, have you given any thought to capturing her?" Seco asked casually. "Or at least getting the karking blaster away from her?"

"I thought about it." Negian grinned. "But you said you wanted to handle this by yourself."

"I said I wanted to handle the FOOL by myself." Seco shot back. "You get what we came for."

"No you don't!" Jerin was back on his feet, charging forward yet again, even though he knew he was outclassed. This time, Seco blocked all incoming strikes by just moving his right arm, while the rest of his body stayed stock still.

"Typical Mando idiot." Seco shook his head. "Your people value courage over self-preservation so much, it's amazing you still exist."

"And you Sith value the dark side above common SENSE!" Jerin roared. He punctuated this statement with a kick aimed at Seco's stomach. Seco reflexively tried to block with his lightsaber, but Jerin's beskar boot plowed right through it, connecting with a solid kick that caused Seco to wheeze and hunch over. He managed to jerk his head out of the way of Jerin's incoming saber strike, so that it just barely singed his right ear, but that was more than enough to make him furious.

The next thing Jerin was aware of, he was being slammed into the metal wall of the hallway by a Force Push so strong it nearly knocked him unconscious. It was all he could do to focus his dimming vision, and he barely heard Negian's voice through his ringing ears. "Be wary of your anger, Seco." Negian said calmly. "It shouldn't be so strong it causes you to lose your wits."

"I disagree." Jerin declared as he stumbled forward. "Pure rage is the only reason I'm still alive!!" With that, he stretched both hands out and let loose with a burst of Force Lightning the likes of which hadn't been seen since Palpatine's time, or possibly even Darth Bane's. Unfortunately, Jerin had picked the wrong opponents to try this on. Seco and Negian simply stood where they were as the lightning approached, then passed through them as if they were nothing but holographic projections. After several seconds of this, Jerin cut off the flow of lightning, now wondering how the hell he was going to get out of this alive. Seco charged forward impossibly fast, but in mid charge, he was suddenly intercepted by someone else moving even faster.

Seco took one glance at the blue blade that was effortlessly holding his own in check, and instantly knew who he was facing. "Fantastic. It's Lucia."

Tenn finally felt some genuine relief at the sight of Lucia Skywalker, her blade effortlessly holding Seco's in place. "Tenn, it's good to see you're safe and sound." The young, blonde-haired Skywalker called over her shoulder.

"Lucia, what are you doing here?" Tenn called back.

"Looking for evidence of a Black Sun slaving operation." She answered casually, holding Seco's blade in place even as he tried to twist away from their stalemate. "But I've always got time to deal with a couple of brats who think they're Sith Lords." Tenn was amazed by Lucia's confidence, but then, she'd never known Lucia to show even a hint of fear. Those who said that Dirk Skywalker was the best swordsman in the Jedi Order were overlooking Dirk's straightforward statement that his wife was even better. Even more impressive was that Lucia hadn't been raised as a Jedi, and in fact had received no Jedi training at all until she'd married Dirk at age nineteen. Now twenty four years old, she was already among the best in the order in virtually every category. "I'll give you one chance to surrender, Seco." She told him as she matched his glare with one of her own.

"Surely you jest." Seco grinned as he finally twisted his blade free, just as Negian ran forward to help. Even as she starting swinging her blade at Seco with her right hand, Lucia drew out another lightsaber with her left and ignited its green blade in plenty of time to parry Negian's opening thrust. Even though she was facing two opponents by herself, Lucia quickly began pushing them back.

Tenn caught additional movement out of the corner of her eye, and turned to see Jerin running toward her. "Time to go!" He announced.

"No way!" She shook her head forcefully.

From over where she was a bit busy, Lucia misunderstood Tenn's reluctance to leave. "He's right, Tenn!" She shouted. "Don't worry about me! Just get a move on!" Sensing that Tenn still wasn't moving, she shouted again. "Just go! I'll find you when this is over, don't worry!"

"I- Oh, all right." Tenn reluctantly agreed. She started running beside Jerin, but kept a tight grip on the blaster he'd given her. "I'm not giving this back." She told him.

"That's fine. I've gotta find the blaster you jerked out of my hand earlier anyway." He announced, his eyes quickly scanning the floor as they ran.

Tenn spared him a glance that clearly indicated she couldn't believe what an idiot she'd gotten mixed up with. "With two Sith Lords after you, you're going to stop to look for a blaster?"

"It's not just 'a blaster'." He informed her. "That blaster belonged to Jango Fett! If I don't find it, Boba will probably rise from the grave and kill me." On that note, Jerin spotted it on the floor, and didn't lose any speed as he bent down to scoop it up. To Tenn's surprise, he didn't even try to point it at her, but just tucked it into his belt. As they neared the entrance to the main, crowded hallway, Jerin held a hand out. "All right, if we run here, we'll attract the attention of station security, and I bet they've been put on high alert by now."

"Something tells me you have some experience running away from security." Tenn observed as they mingled back into the crowd.

"More than I'd like." Jerin answered dryly. "Security, pirates, Black Sun enforcers, Republic military... You name 'em, I've run away from 'em." Now Jerin glanced over at Tenn, to see that she was still pointing the heavy repeating blaster in his general direction. "Now would you let me put that away? Security IS going to detain you if they see that. That's not a weapon that's legal to carry on this station."

"I'm not going to be your prisoner." She answered calmly, pointing the weapon more directly at him.

"The situation has changed, my purple friend." Jerin smiled sarcastically, earning a look of irritation from Tenn. "Someone has played me for a fool, and possibly Korgo the Hutt as well. Then again, Korgo might be the one who played me. In any case, nobody is getting their hands on you until I figure out what's going on. You'll be a guest on my ship, not a prisoner." She seemed to be mulling that over. "Now give me that!" He snatched his blaster our of her hands, and tucked it back under his cape.

Now they were passing the restaurant where this whole mess had started. Tenn looked around for her friends, but they had disappeared. Probably to report the situation to station security, but security was going to be tied up by the big lightsaber battle currently taking place for the foreseeable future. "So where is your ship?" She asked with a sigh.

"Not far." Jerin shrugged. "I used the main dock. I was here on legitamite business, after all. Or so I thought." Now he smiled. "I didn't really think I'd be needing to make a quick getaway, but I left everything but the engines powered up, just in case."

"I hope your ship is fast." Tenn said, looking over her shoulder. "Because if those Sith get past Lucia, they'll be on us in no time."

"Fast?" Jerin raised an eyebrow. "The _Millenium Falcon_ ain't got poodoo on me."

.

Back in the side hallway Jerin and Tenn had so recently vacated, the lightsaber duel raged on. Lucia was now in defensive mode, as Seco and Negian repeatedly tried to get behind her while she was dueling the other. However, Lucia was simply too good. Her movements were incredibly efficient, and powered by the Force at just the right times, so that slight twitches of her wrists often sent her opponents staggering off to the side. Still, the fact that both of their lightsabers were still intact was worrisome. "You two have both improved a great deal since you left the order." She admitted.

"The dark side grants unfathomable power to those brave enough to claim it." Seco smiled as he whirled in for another series of strikes.

"If that was true, I'd be dead already." Lucia snorted. "Don't get carried away." The next thing she knew, Seco had used the Force to suspend her right arm in place for a moment, finally allowing him to tie up both of her sabers with his single blade.

"Now, Negian!" Seco shouted, a triumphant grin on his face.

Lucia struggled to get her blades into a blocking position as a forking bolt of Force Lightning hurtled her way, but she was a split second too late, and the lightning hurled her blue saber away from her right hand. To her amazement, no sooner had the lightning died away, then the blue saber hurtled back toward Negian, spinning rapidly in the air. He batted it away with his red blade, but it flipped back toward him, pressing the attack. Lucia and Seco both risked a glance down the hallway, to see Dirk Skywalker calmly striding forward, his outstretched right hand controlling the saber.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, honey." Dirk flashed his wife a decidedly rogueish grin. "But I knew you could handle these brats without much trouble." He directed the blue saber into one last slash at Negian, then sent it soaring back into his wife's outstretched hand.

"Actually, I have to say they're better than they used to be." She reluctantly admitted. Now that she had both weapons in her hands again, Seco backed up a few steps.

"Well, in that case..." Dirk drew out a gleaming lightsaber hilt that had once belonged to Kol Skywalker. "I better lend a hand. Haah!" He activated the brilliant green blade even as he charged forward.

"Time to go, Seco!" Negian announced, then promptly turned and started running as fast as his Force powered legs could carry him.

"Raaah!!" Seco let out a growl of pure fury, but then he turned to run as well. All thoughts of capturing Tenn Sonata had long since fled from his mind. Now he was entirely preoccupied with getting off the station alive. "Negian, allow me to thank you for convincing me not to take our own ships on this mission." Seco commented even as the walls of the hallway were passing by in a blur. "Now we get to escape in a karking stolen security cruiser!"

"Hey, you can never tell when a Skywalker's going to show up." Negian groaned. "Not since Darth Caedus showed Ben Skywalker how to hide his Force presence."

"I hate Jacen Solo." Seco growled, even as he continued to sprint at top speed.

"Yeah, me too." Negian grinned for the first time in a while.

.

Dirk calmly watched the two Sith blast off down the hall. "I'll go after them. You find their ships and disable them." He quickly outlined a plan.

"Fine with me." Lucia nodded. "But they're probably going to get away again. This station is too big."

"Then let's move!" Dirk grinned, then charged off after Seco and Negian.

Lucia did indeed start running in the other direction, but she wasn't overly concerned with the Sith. If they did stand their ground and fight, she was confident that Dirk could beat them, even fighting both at once. No, she was going after the third dark sider, the one that had run off with Tenn. Even though Tenn seemed to know him, Lucia didn't trust anyone who used Force Lightning, no matter the reason. The more Lucia thought about it, the more she suspected that the apparent fight between the Sith and the third dark sider might not have been what it seemed. It could well have been a trap designed to capture Tenn, which was probably why the Sith were here in the first place. 'Hang in there, Tenn.' Lucia grimaced as she quickened her pace even more. 'I'm on my way.'

.

"Your plan has a flaw. It assumes you can kill me." - Shado Vao, _Star Wars Legacy_

.

(Nanaki's note: Dirk and Lucia Skywalker are an homage to a pair of Star Wars stories my father wrote long ago. The first in 1979 or 1980, the second in 1982. These stories chronicled the adventures of Luke's father during the Clone Wars and the rise of the Empire, which were two separate events in his universe. Lucia was a pirate captain, despite only being seventeen or so, that Dirk met close to the end of the first story. My dad took care of Vader's big reveal in _Empire_ by explaining that Vader THOUGHT he was Luke's father, since he had raped Lucia at one point, but that Dirk really was Luke's father. Plus, Darth's father, Dorn Vader was actually the Emperor, since he had ejected his Force spirit out of his own body, and into Palpatine's. Oh, and Dirk had a little sister named Beru Skywalker.

Sure, all this sounds pretty silly now, but back in 1980, no one had any idea what Lucas had in mind for Episodes I through III. Probably not even Lucas himself, despite claims to the contrary. Considering the limited information my father had to work with, his stories were pretty karking awesome. Also, Dirk Skywalker "died" during the rise of the Empire by being forced to fly into a black hole to escape some Star Destroyers. Dad made sure to mention that no one really knows what's on the other side of a black hole, leaving the door open for Dirk to potentially return some day. My father got busy writing some original fiction, so that never happened. However, since I read his Star Wars stories before Episode I came out, I still have very fond memories of them. In some ways, they were better than what we actually got. Lucia wasn't especially Force-sensitive in those stories, but I decided her namesake here needs to be able to keep up with Dirk on all fronts. You can't deny that Luke and Mara had a particularly deadly dynamic, what with either of them being able to take on anyone by themselves. Keep in mind, Caedus had to cheat to win, after all. Anyway, I've talked enough for now. Look for another chapter in short order.)


	4. Escape Down the Hydian

**Star Wars: Return of the Sith**

**4: Escape Down the Hydian**

By Nanaki

Brentaal Station

"You have GOT to be kidding me." Was Tenn's first reaction on seeing Jerin's ship. She was no expert on starships, but this one was clearly very old. Unlike most cruisers, this one had a fairly compact living space, with large, forward curving wings that seemed to be mostly weapons emplacements.

"Hey, like Fett's old Firespray, this is a lot more deadly than it looks." Jerin explained as he hit a button on his belt to lower the landing ramp. His ship was a _Marauder_ missile frigate, built to deliver explosive missiles instead of the more common laser cannons, although it packed plenty of those, too. The ship was over two hundred years old, though the engines, weapon systems, and shield generator were all under ten years old. Jerin had renamed the ship _Sword of Justice_ when his father had given it to him four years ago. "Arfive, get us ready to go!" Jerin called as he walked up the ramp.

Following Jerin through the narrow main hallway to the cockpit, Tenn saw an astromech droid with a cylindrical head interfacing with the ship's computer, and the engines roared to life before they had even sat down. "Well, it looks like it's probably faster than station security." She admitted.

Jerin snorted. "She's got a 0.38 hyperdrive rating." He bragged as he sat down behind the controls.

Tenn frowned. "Only military ships can be faster than 0.5."

"This IS a military ship." Jerin grinned. "But for Mandalore, not the Republic."

"Wait a minute..." Tenn seemed to be thinking something over. "If you are one of Fett's descendants, then you'd die the second you came in contact with Mandalore's atmosphere, because of the nano-virus the Imperials scattered."

"I never said I was related to Fett." Jerin pointed out. "The Sith just assumed. But I am, actually." He smiled. "And back when the Galactic Alliance developed a counter-virus to the Imperials' nano-machines, my ancestors kept it quiet. Mirta Orade wanted the Empire to think that they'd failed all along." R5-C7 made a whistling sound, and turned his photoreceptor toward Jerin. "Okay, we're ready to go." Jerin leaned forward over his controls. "This is _Sword of Justice_ calling Brentaal Station control." Jerin said. "Just letting you know I'm heading out now."

It took a few seconds for someone on the other end to reply. "Um... _Sword of Justice_, station security would like to have a word with you."

"I wasn't asking permission." Jerin answered calmly, then flicked the communicator off. He turned back to Tenn. "Well, it appears we'll be leaving quickly." As the ship rose up to hover above the flight deck, a blast door began to close off the wide opening that usually only had a low powered shield to keep the atmosphere from escaping. Fortunately for Jerin, it was closing slowly, making jerking motions that indicated it hadn't been used in a long time. "I hope you're strapped in," Jerin grinned again, "because I don't turn my inertial dampers all the way up to a hundred percent."

"Why?" Was the only thing Tenn had time to ask before Jerin turned the ship on its side and blasted for the entrance at top speed. The tip of the left wing grazed the ceiling as they shot out into space, with the blast door grinding to a close a few seconds later.

"Because that's the way I like it." Jerin explained simply, then turned to look at her again. "I should probably ask where we're going." He said dryly.

"You're... really not taking me to the Hutt are you?" Tenn sounded surprised.

"I'm getting a stronger and stronger feeling that Korgo knew the Sith were going to be after you." Jerin nodded. "Even if he didn't, he failed to mention that you were Force-sensitive, which is a pretty big detail to overlook." At Tenn's questioning glance, he elaborated. "Capturing a Force-sensitive unharmed requires additional preparation, and more backup plans than a typical capture. Needless to say, it also requires much more payment."

Tenn drummed her fingers on her knee in thought. "When Negian said that Korgo works for the Sith, I didn't think that he was lying. But if that's true, why would he send a bounty hunter when the Sith were already going to be there?"

Jerin shrugged. "Maybe the Sith didn't tell him. Maybe he wanted to capture you and present you to them as a gift. Maybe he wanted to get rid of me, though I can't imagine why on that last one unless someone payed him a ton of money. But..." Jerin glanced at his navicomputer. "We'll be ready to jump onto the Hydian in about forty seconds here, so where are we going?"

Tenn let out a long sigh. "I'd like to go home, but that's probably the first place they'd look for me."

"Home is Ryloth?" Jerin asked, and she just nodded. "Well, we could go to Coruscant..."

She shook her head. "Too many people know me on Coruscant. I don't want my friends getting dragged into this mess. Plus, even small businesses on Coruscant have several dozen security cameras."

Jerin nodded. "True enough. Well, we could go to Mandalore."

"I'd rather not." At Jerin's questioning look, she elaborated. "I don't think I'm brave enough to handle a whole planet full of you."

Jerin laughed. "It's not that full, but I know what you mean. Fine then, we'll go to Kuat."

"What's on Kuat?" Tenn wondered.

"To be specific, the orbital shipyards above Kuat. My parents are both in charge of security units for Kuat Drive Yards." He explained. At that, the navicomputer beeped. "And if you change your mind on the way, that's fine, but we need to get away from here right now."

Tenn shrugged. "Kuat sounds fine."

"Then KDY, here we come!" A rogueish grin appeared on Jerin's face as the stars outside became a blur, to be replaced a second later by the swirling colors of hyperspace.

.

"Sithspawn!" Lucia swore under her breath as she skidded to a stop from her Force powered sprint. The main docking bay didn't contain any ships that looked like they were about to take off, plus the blast doors had been closed, apparently too late. Several officers from station security were moving around the dock, but they looked more confused than anything else. Reaching out with the Force, Lucia sensed that Tenn was still close to the station, but quickly moving away. This close to the Hydian Way and the Perlemian Trade Route, she would be in hyperspace before Lucia could even start to commandeer a ship of her own. Lucia was somewhat relieved to sense that Tenn felt more irritated than anything else. Maybe that third dark sider really wasn't working with the Sith. Or maybe the trap just hadn't been sprung yet.

Even so, the mere thought that Tenn might be in danger gnawed at Lucia. Tenn Sonata was quite possibly the most gentle soul that Lucia had ever met. Though Lucia was several years older, they had had many classes together at the Jedi Temple, as both had gotten a late start on their Jedi training. However, Tenn had left the Jedi just before completing her training, saying that she really didn't think she could kill another being, even if it was in self-defense or to save innocent lives. From most people, Lucia would have thought it was a pathetic excuse to hide the real reason they were leaving, but coming from Tenn, Lucia had believed it. "Argh!" Lucia sat down on the floor, frustrated that she couldn't do anything right now. Just a few seconds later, she sensed Tenn's presence in the Force disappear from the immediate area, and knew that the dark sider's ship must have gone into hyperspace.

Dirk found her there a few minutes later. Looking up at her husband, Lucia saw that he was winded, but otherwise unharmed. "Hey." She smiled up at him. "I take it the Sith got away too."

"Yeah." He sighed, sitting down next to her. "Although my lightsaber had a disagreement with a couple of their sub-light engines, so they'll be getting away pretty slowly until they jump to light speed."

"Did you get a tracking device on the ship?" She asked hopefully.

"You bet." He nodded, flashing that rogueish grin of his again.

"All right!" She patted his knee, then stood up. "So all we have to do is calculate their final destination based on their course, then get there before they do."

"I'm glad Artoo is the one who'll actually be doing that, and not me." Dirk laughed. "And we don't necessarily need to get there first, since we've got Stealth X-12s."

"True." Lucia stretched out a hand to help him up. "But we'd better not get there very long after Seco, or he will get his grubby hands on Tenn."

"Yep. So let's get going." Dirk dusted off his pants. "Oh, but we haven't finished our investigation into Black Sun yet."

Lucia shrugged. "So let's contact Master Rondo and have him send someone else to finish up. It's important that we stay on their tail."

Dirk looked thoughtful. "Actually, unless they're heading to somewhere close by, it might be better to send out someone from the Academy on Corellia to..." He trailed off as he saw Lucia staring at him like she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Ah, forget that!" He smiled. "This'll be a lot more fun."

"Now you're talking!" Lucia laughed.

.

"Negian, I am never listening to you again." Seco remarked dryly as he desperately juked their stolen security cruiser back and forth. With the damage Dirk Skywalker had inflicted on their engines, the ship didn't juke that well, and several quad laser bolts from the pursuing security forces slammed into their rear. Glancing at the controls, Seco saw that the shield generator couldn't take much more of this. "Are we ready to jump to light speed YET?" He turned to glare at Negian.

"If you weren't so busy complaining, I probably would have sensed which route they'd taken already." Negian responded calmly. "Or do you WANT to jump down the Perlemian and find out later that they went down the Hydian?"

"Fine, fine." Seco shut up and concentrated on his flying.

Negian merely closed his eyes and folded his arms. Less than twenty seconds later, Negian blinked rapidly. "The Hydian. It's definitely the Hydian."

"Good." Seco said simply, then hit the button to send them into hyperspace just a second later.

"What's the hyperdrive rating on this crate?" Negian wondered.

"Two." Seco responded, sounding cranky.

"The Mandalorian is bound to have a faster hyperdrive than that." Negian observed.

"No kidding." Seco smiled grimly. "And Skywalker is bound to have tagged us with a tracking device."

"Yep." Negian stretched his arms, then yawned. "When we find them, we're going to have to grab Tenn and get out on a faster ship as quick as we can. Though the Skywalkers might get there ahead of us." Negian stood up, then started heading for the back of the ship.

"Where are you going?" Seco wondered.

"To get some sleep." Negian answered over his shoulder. "We're going to have at least one lightsaber battle when we find her. If we have to fight the Skywalkers too, we'll need all the rest we can get."

"You're a very odd Sith Lord, Negian." Seco remarked as he folded his arms.

"It's the Jedi who labeled us Sith." Negian reminded him. "I think you take that label too seriously. Remember, our goal is simply to learn all we can about the Force, light and dark both."

"YOUR goal, perhaps." Seco whispered when Negian was out of earshot. "My goal is to be able to do whatever I want, whenever I want, and to have the power to ignore the consequences." However, even Seco had to admit that fighting the idiot Mandalorian and Lucia Skywalker had left him feeling drained. Before he knew it, he was nodding off where he sat.

.

"If at first you don't succeed, redefine what you did as success." - Stephen Colbert

.

(Character Name Origins #1: Jerin Danar

Jerin Danar is the name I always use when playing Knights of the Old Republic, except for the very first time I played. When I first put the game in my XBox in 2003, I was unaware that the game was taking place forty years or so after the Tales of the Jedi comics, and I thought that it was just overwriting the old continuity completely. So on that first playthrough, I named Revan "Jerin Qel-Droma" as an homage to what I thought was a now-vanished storyline. Of course, once I picked up the strategy guide, I realized how wrong I was. I was also pretty sure that if Revan was somehow related to Ulic and Cay Qel-Droma, the game would have mentioned it. So, on all subsequent playthroughs, I named the main hero Jerin Danar.

As for Jerin's backstory, I owe that to a different Star Wars RPG. This one was a pen and paper RPG that my first roommate here at Grand Canyon invented himself, because he wasn't satisfied with the existing Star Wars RPG's reliance on the D20 system. We never actually got around to playing a session, but I did generate a character. He was a former Mandalorian on a quest for vengeance who wielded a black lightsaber and piloted a Marauder missile frigate. There are plenty of other details that I'll be using too, but I don't want to give too much away at this early stage.)


	5. The Race to Kuat

**Star Wars: Return of the Sith**

**5: The Race to Kuat**

By Nanaki

On the Hydian Way

"So..." Tenn seemed to be searching for a way to restart the conversation. "How long will it take to get there?"

"About eight hours." Jerin answered as he looked at something on his displays.

"That quick?" Her eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Hey, I told you she was fast." Jerin patted his controls proudly. "About six and a half hours down the Hydian to Fedalle, then another hour and a half down the Kuat Trade Spine and we're there."

"So how did your ship get a name like _Sword of Justice_?" Tenn wondered.

"Because I'm searching for justice, and this ship is my sword." Jerin answered dryly.

"Care to elaborate on that?" Tenn shot him a skewed glance.

"Care to tell me why the Sith are after you?" Jerin shot back.

"Um... I don't think so." She frowned, and went back to looking out the cockpit window.

"Then I don't think so either." Jerin shrugged.

"So I guess we're not going to pass the time by talking." Tenn surmised.

"Apparently not." Jerin leaned back in his chair, folding his hands behind his head.

"Then do you mind if I get something to eat? We hadn't ordered yet back at the restaurant when you pointed a gun in my face." She explained crankily.

"Help yourself." Jerin shrugged. "The galley's at the end of the main hallway."

"Thanks... I think." Tenn stood up and started heading down the hallway. While the hallway itself was very cramped, the glances she got of the rooms on either side revealed them to be fairly spacious. The last room on the left had clearly been modified to function as a prison cell. Tenn hurried past that, and made straight for the cooling unit when she got to the galley. When she opened it up, she found nothing inside but several varieties of alcoholic beverages, a few bottles of water, and a couple bottles of pre-brewed iced caf. Tenn grabbed one of the bottles of caf, then started to rummage through the storage cupboards in the walls.

Five minutes later, as she poked a fork at a cup full of recently re-hydrated noodles with a scattering of vegetables and some kind of small crustacean, Tenn wondered what exactly to make of Jerin. He seemed pretty rough around the edges, as of yet he hadn't bothered to apologize for trying to take her prisoner and drag her to a Hutt, plus he was clearly a fan of the dark side of the Force on top of that. On the other hand, even if his main motivation was money, once he had made up his mind to protect her, he had fought Negian and Seco with every ounce of strength he had. He had also insisted on getting away from the station as fast as possible, just in case the Sith came after them. Though the thought now occured to Tenn that maybe he really just wanted to get away from the Jedi... But she didn't think so. If he still wanted to stun her and collect the bounty, he'd had ample opportunity already, and that also would have prevented her from eating his food. No, it seemed that he'd really meant it when he said she was his guest.

As Tenn took another bite of her rather bland meal, she noticed a framed holo bolted to the wall. It was an image of Jerin, looking younger than he did now, sitting next to a girl with wavy dark hair. They both had very cocky grins on their faces, and Jerin's black hair in the picture was a good deal longer than it was now. He looked more handsome that way, Tenn thought. Suddenly, Tenn recalled something Jerin had shouted during the battle: "Pure rage is the only reason I'm still alive!!" Also noting that the girl in the picture was definitely nowhere on the ship, Tenn suddenly had a pretty good idea of how Jerin had come to draw on the dark side.

.

Dirk Skywalker briefly glanced at the latest readings on the ship they were pursuing as they flashed across the displays of his Stealth-X. From his position on top of the fighter, R2-D2 let out a derisive sound. "You can say that again, Artoo." Dirk laughed. "At least they didn't steal a fast ship." Now he flipped on his communications systems. "Lucia, have you given any thought to just blasting their engines and taking care of things out in space? We'll be caught up with them in a few minutes."

"Tempting as it is, I don't think so." Lucia answered. "If we do that, the third dark sider will get away with Tenn, and we won't be able to follow. Much as I hate to admit it, we need Negian's unprecedented ability to sense a person's presence in the Force from halfway across the galaxy."

"Well, then we're going to be cooling our heels following their clunker for a while." Dirk observed.

"That's for sure." Lucia agreed. "Want to play twenty questions?"

"Sure." Dirk agreed. "I'll start."

"All right. Are you a person?"

"Yes..." Dirk answered hesitantly.

"Are you alive?"

"No."

"Mon Mothma." Lucia stated with confidence.

"Argh! Every time!" Dirk cursed. "How do you guess after only two questions EVERY time?!"

Lucia shrugged. "What can I say, honey? I just know you that well."

.

Seco blinked awake, and was momentarily disoriented by the swirling colors of hyperspace. Looking at the ship's chrono, he discovered over six hours had passed. That was way too long, considering they were actively engaged in a pursuit mission. Glancing to his right, he was relieved to see Negian sitting in the co-pilot's seat. "Hey, why didn't you wake me up?" He asked as he rubbed his eyes.

"Everything's under control." Negian assured him. "That, and you're a lot less of a load to have around when you're asleep."

"Thanks, buddy." Seco groaned as he stretched his arms. "What's our status?"

"We've got plenty more time to sleep." Negian answered indirectly. "The Mandalorian's ship is more than three times faster than ours."

"MORE than three times faster?" Seco found himself reluctanctly impressed. That meant their enemy's ship was even faster than the _Millenium Falcon_, the ship by which all others were judged in terms of speed.

"However, I think I can guess their final destination." Negian smiled. "They're now a good deal farther to the galactic east than we are."

"Well, the Hydian does curve out that way." Seco pointed out.

Negian shook his head. "Even farther than that. Based on their speed, they must have jumped onto the Kuat Trade Spine at Fedalle."

Seco nodded. "Well, that does narrow it down a lot. The only world that would be of interest to a Mandalorian on that route is Kuat itself, and it's also the most heavily populated, making it the best hiding place."

"My thoughts exactly." Negian nodded. "But in the meantime, we've still got about eighteen hours until we get there. Go back to sleep."

"In a little bit." Seco arched his back as he stood up. "First, I'm going to see if this tub has any food stocked on board."

"There isn't any. I already checked." Negian reported. "This ship is mainly intended to be used for local patrols, after all."

"Stang!" Seco cursed. "The last thing I had to eat was that terrible sandwich at the snack stand on Coruscant!" He thought for a minute. "How about this: Unless Tenn is in the process of boarding a ship to escape us when we get to Kuat, we go get something to eat first thing. Sound good?"

"Yeah, but stop talking about it or I'm going to get hungry now." Negian warned him. "Crud, too late."

.

As the _Sword of Justice_ reverted to realspace, the blue and green orb of Kuat loomed larged in the viewports, with part of the planet in the shadow cast by its manmade ring. Tenn gasped at the sight.

"Never been to a planet with a ring of orbital shipyards before?" Jerin asked as he stretched and opened his eyes. Tenn just shook her head. "Even these aren't much compared with Mon Calamari, but we give worlds like Fondor and Sluis Van a real run for their money." Now Jerin flicked a switch on his controls. "KDY Control, this is Jerin Danar of the cruiser _Sword of Justice_, requesting permission to land in shipyard nine, docking bay C-17."

"Danar? Is that really you?" A gravelly voice answered a second later.

"Hey Marus, you old scoundrel!" Jerin laughed. "Haven't drunk yourself to death yet, I see."

"Not for lack of trying." Marus shot back. "But it'll take more than booze to take me down!"

"Like your wife, for example." Jerin suggested.

"And what she threatened to do to me if I didn't cut back." Marus agreed. "Anyway, where've you been? Your father's been trying to get ahold of you for weeks now!"

"Oh yeah, what about?" Jerin wondered.

"He says he's got some new information for you about the Red Star Pirates." Tenn would never forget how fast the smile disappeared from Jerin's face when he heard that.

"Is... Is that right?" Jerin sounded calm, but a fierce scowl had replaced his grin.

"Are you still chasing after them?" Marus demanded.

"I will never stop... until I've killed them all. With my own hands." Jerin growled.

"If you don't knock this off soon, Gadran the Hutt is going to put a huge bounty on your head." Marus warned.

"I'm insulted that he hasn't already." Jerin replied. "So can I land or not?"

"Yeah, you're clear to land." Marus said. "Be sure to drop by for a visit while you're here."

"I'll probably have time." Jerin nodded, the scowl leaving his face. "See you soon." With that, Jerin guided his ship toward the shipyard he had grown up on. He couldn't help but smile a bit at the amazed look on Tenn's face as the shipyard filled up the cockpit window, then kept getting bigger from there. "They're over 3,000 miles across each." He explained. "When you consider all twelve, they're bigger than both Death Stars and Centerpoint Station put together. But... when you consider that they built _Executor_ and _Eclipse_ class Star Destroyers here, they pretty much have to be."

"They still build Star Destroyers here today, don't they?" Tenn finally found her voice.

"Well the Republic calls them 'Star Defenders' now, but yeah, we sure do. There's one now." Jerin pointed almost straight up out of the canopy, and Tenn craned her neck to see an enormous, white, wedge shaped ship that still looked insignificant next to the shipyard around it. She soon lost her view of it as Jerin's ship was completely swallowed up by a spacious docking bay. Jerin set the ship down so gently that Tenn could barely even feel it. "All right, here we are. Even if the Sith somehow guess where we went, they should have a hard time finding us with all the beings that live here."

"Um... About that." Tenn looked a little embarrassed. "I should probably warn you that Negian is renowned for being able to sense specific Force presences at incredible distances."

"So you're saying he can still sense us all the way out here?" Jerin sounded skeptical.

"We could have gone to Terminus, and he'd still be able to sense us." Tenn nodded. "I guess I should have told you before." She clearly expected him to be mad.

Jerin shrugged. "Actually, I'd welcome a rematch."

"After how close you came to dying last time?" Tenn asked in a more scolding tone than she'd planned on.

Jerin flashed a very dangerous smile. "I didn't have my armor on last time. With that, I won't even need my lightsaber."

"If you say so." Tenn didn't sound convinced.

"Anyway, there's no sense hanging around here." Jerin stood up. "I just need to grab a few things, then I'll be ready to go." Jerin headed out of the cockpit and opened the door to his cabin. Tenn couldn't resist peering inside from around the doorframe. She saw Jerin put his hand on top of a yellow Mandalorian helmet with its traditional T-shaped visor. Then he said, "Mhi solus tome. Mhi solus dar'tome." To Tenn's surprise, he then took his hand off the helmet instead of picking it up. Only then did she notice that a blaster bolt had gone through the right side of the visor at some point in the past. As Jerin began to pack some clothes into a duffel bag, Tenn ducked back into the cockpit.

"All right, ready to go?" Jerin called as he closed his cabin door. Tenn stood up from her seat, nodding. As they headed to the boarding ramp, Tenn saw that Jerin's astromech was now waiting by the entrance. "Ship lockdown, Arfive." Jerin told him. "Standard procedure: If anyone but me forces their way in, activate the self-destruct and get yourself out in one of the escape pods." R5 tweetled his acknowledgment.

"Isn't that a little extreme?" Tenn asked as they headed down the ramp.

Jerin shrugged. "It never hurts to be careful."

"No, I suppose not." Tenn nodded, thinking of that yellow helmet with the blaster hole. While she didn't speak a word of Mandalorian, Tenn was pretty sure that Jerin had made some sort of vow to the helmet. Probably the same vow he'd made to the dark haired girl who used to wear it. Somehow, she felt sure that it had nothing to do with the dark side, though she couldn't say where this intuition came from. Maybe it was because of the Force.

Or maybe it was because of the smile that had been on Jerin's face when that girl was still alive.

.

"All things are born into this world, and eventually die. That's the pure and simple truth. Heh."

"Are you saying 'Give up all hope'? That it's pointless to wish for anything?"

"Oh no. I'm not saying that. I'm just summarizing the essential human experience. What people living in this beautiful world can look forward to, no matter how long, or how they wish to live. It's something everyone knows, yet has seemingly forgotten. I will never forget it. I will never be able to forget it. If there is anything of value in living a life such as mine, I would say that would have to be it. Since I first learned that, I've never forgotten it for a moment. Heheheh." - Rau Le Creuset and Gilbert Durandal, _Gundam Seed Destiny_

.

(Nanaki's note: That eight hour figure regarding how fast Jerin's ship could go from Brentaal to Kuat is just a guess. Not even an educated guess, just a pure guess. I remember once calculating that if the _Millenium Falcon_ stayed on the Hydian Way the whole time, it could cross the entire galaxy in ninety six hours, or four days. However, I no longer have any idea how I arrived at that figure. The speed of Jerin's ship is extrapolated from that figure, but it's not like I accurately measured the portion of the Hydian Way between Brentaal and Fedalle and did some math to arrive at the eight hour figure. Until _The Essential Guide To Calculating Hyperspace Jumps_ is published, I doubt I'll give it any more thought.

On another note, some were probably puzzled by my repeated mentioning of Negian's ability to sense specific Force presences at great distances. After all, don't the main characters do that frequently in the novels? Not as much as you might think. Most of the sensing is much more short range. In the movies, the characters (aside from Yoda, who was also renowned for his sensing abilities) can usually only sense each other when they're within potential visual range. Even Anakin, who's clearly number one in raw power if not skill, doesn't sense Count Dooku on board the _Invisible Hand_ until he's also on board himself. This is usually true in the novels as well. Yes, Leia could sense her children at all times, (Which unfortunately led to the most heartbreaking scene I've read in the entire Star Wars canon.) but I think that's a special bond reserved for parents and children. Mara demonstrated a similar bond with Ben, and Luke and Vader tend to sense each other at greater distances than when Leia sensed Luke at the end of Empire. Outside of immediate family, it seems to be a much rarer occurance. In the movies, only Yoda and the Emperor demonstrated that they had the ability to sense others across light years, and of the characters introduced so far in this story, only Negian has that power.)


	6. The Unseen King

**Star Wars: Return of the Sith**

**6: The Unseen King**

By Nanaki

Kuat Drive Yards, Orbital Shipyard #9

Tenn was impressed by how quickly they reached their destination. Jerin had probably landed in the most convenient docking bay he could, but even so, ten minutes seemed pretty fast. The turbolifts they'd taken had gone almost straight up the entire way, and they had to be close to the top of the shipyard now. As they stepped out of the final turbolift into a very wide hallway, Tenn looked around in surprise. Instead of the occasional small viewports that they'd been seeing, this hallway was almost nothing but viewports. They walls were entirely transparisteel, and even the ceiling had many wide windows, all looking out to the stars, or on the left side, the planet below.

Jerin set a brisk pace heading toward a vaguely dwelling shaped lump that protruded from the hallway. Looking back and forth, Tenn saw several more within her field of vision, though they were spaced pretty far apart. As they continued walking, Tenn realized that they were VERY far apart, and also very large. It seemed as though all of the living areas could be detached from the main platform in case of emergency. "What's the rent like on one of these places?" She wondered, almost afraid of the answer.

"About as astronomical as you'd expect." Jerin shrugged. "Though my parents actually own theirs. I don't know how much they paid, but just the property tax is pretty ridiculous." Now they arrived at the connecting tunnel that actually led out to the dwelling, and Jerin pressed an intercom button next to the hatch.

"Who is it?" A gruff voice demanded.

"It's your son." Jerin answered in a bored tone.

"Jerin! Where have you been?" The voice sounded welcoming and angry at the same time. "Would it kill you to call once in a while?"

"Well, probably not, but why take the risk?" Jerin grinned.

"All right smartass, come on in." His father groaned, then thought of something. "Are you alone?"

"Nope." Jerin answered easily.

"Business or pleasure?" Came the tactless voice over the intercom.

"Um..." Jerin risked a quick glance at Tenn, who didn't seem particularly offended. "I have no idea." He answered honestly.

"Well, in any event, get your butt in here." His father ordered. The hatch whooshed open to reveal a completely transparent cylinder, somewhat flattened on the bottom. Jerin looked back along the way to see that Tenn was fairly mesmerized by the stars visible between her feet. Soon enough, they reached the actual door. Jerin punched in a six digit code on a keypad, and this door rolled open as well. "Welcome home, Jerin!" His father boomed. "And who have we here?" His eyes focused on Tenn as he strode forward.

"Tenn, this is my father, Jaing Danar." Jerin introduced him.

Tenn stepped forward, her hand extended in greeting. "Hello sir, I'm Tenn."

'Don't say, "You can say that again!" Don't say, "You can say that again!" Don't say, "You can say that again!"' Jerin thought repeatedly to himself.

"You can say that again!" Jaing grinned as he shook Tenn's hand. Jerin winced noticeably. "Anyway, welcome. Make yourself at home."

"So where's Mom?" Jerin wondered.

"Oh, she's out dealing with some poor fool who hasn't payed her some money he owes." His father shrugged. "At any rate, let me show you where you'll be staying." He gestured for Tenn to follow him. Jerin tagged along behind.

"By the Force..." Tenn whispered. Behind the door Jaing opened was a gigantic room with a ceiling at least fifteen feet tall. Two of the walls were filled with enormous windows, with the left wall looking out on Kuat itself. Against the right wall was a bed that was probably big enough to accomodate a couple of Hutts. "This is a guest room?" She asked like she didn't believe it.

"One of four." Jerin nodded. "We may need to leave in a hurry, so get some rest while you can. It's already after ten at night, local time. Which is also midnight, since the day here is only twenty hours long."

'He's really not one for talking.' She observed. "Okay." She said aloud as she nodded.

"We'll let you get some rest, then." Jaing nodded, and closed the door.

After walking around the room a bit, Tenn flung herself down on the bed. 'What are you doing, Tenn?' She asked herself for at least the hundredth time. She flopped over on her back to stare at the ceiling. She supposed that she was about as safe where she was as anywhere else in orbit. The house could be detached from the main shipyard in an emergency, and even Sith couldn't survive in vacuum. At least, she hoped not. The down side at the moment was that she had no change of clothes, or much of anything else, for that matter. She at least had a fair number of credits with her, but that was about all.

Giving the arm of her sweater a sniff, she figured the clothes she had on now would be okay for another day, but she didn't want to sleep in them. Then again, she didn't want to sleep in the nude in a strange place, either. Opening the closet door, she found several white robes of various sizes. 'Good enough.' She thought. She wondered if she should have a sanisteam before heading for bed, but decided against it as she stifled a yawn. She couldn't help looking over her shoulder at the window as she slipped out of her clothes and into the robe. With those huge windows, it seemed like it would be easy for someone to take a peek inside. Though anyone on the planet below would have to have a pretty powerful imaging device to pull off a feat like that, it was well within the realm of possibility for Republic Intelligence. 'Seco has made you paranoid.' Tenn scolded herself as she pulled back the covers and climbed into bed. Even with all her worries, she was asleep in just a few minutes.

.

"May need to leave in a hurry?" Jaing raised an eyebrow as he and Jerin headed back toward the living room.

"Yeah... It seems the Sith are after her. And since I stopped them from getting her at Brentaal, now they're after me too." Jerin admitted.

"Why are they after her?" Jaing frowned in puzzlement.

"I don't know." Jerin shrugged.

"That seems like kind of an important detail." Jaing pointed out.

"I know, but she won't talk." Jerin replied in frustration.

"So why are you helping her?" Jaing asked he sat down on a very large sofa.

"Because no one else is getting their hands on her until I find out WHY the Sith are after her, how she knows the Skywalkers, and why Korgo the Hutt didn't bother to mention that she was Force-sensitive when he sent me after her." Jerin ticked the reasons off on his fingers.

"The Skywalkers too, huh?" Jaing whistled. "Sounds like you've got yourself mixed up in something really big here, son."

"So what?" Jerin shrugged as he took a seat in a reclining chair. "It'll keep me sharp, and I'm not afraid of anything, anyway."

"Oh, I know that." Jaing nodded. "And that's the problem. Fett himself said that only fools don't feel fear."

"I never claimed that I wasn't a fool." Jerin answered dryly.

"Zairina wouldn't want you to join her so soon." Jaing cut to the heart of the matter.

"Don't talk to me about what my wife would want." Jerin replied coldly. "I'm pretty sure she would want to still be alive, first of all."

Jaing held his hands up in defense. "Sorry, but we're just worried about you."

"I know." Jerin let out a long sigh. "But damn it, I don't know why I'm still alive. My life hasn't had any purpose for the last four years, other than revenge."

"You'll find a better purpose if you stick around. I promise you that much." Jaing assured him. "Maybe coming to the rescue of beautiful and rare-colored young Twi'lek girls?" He suggested.

"No thanks." Jerin waved that possibility aside. "Just one is more than enough trouble."

"Ah, but..." Jaing's eyes sparkled with mischief. "What if that purpose could go hand in hand with revenge?"

Jerin folded his hands in his lap, and sat up straighter in his seat. "I'm listening."

.

Wild Space

Both above and beyond the galactic plane, an asteroid over two thousand miles in diameter hurtled through space. This particular asteroid, however, was propelled through space by sub-light engines larger than entire cities. It was also filled with the power of the dark side, as well as those who used it. Though its official name was _Legacy of Ragnos_, it was more popularly known by its inhabitants as "Little Ziost". At this moment, in a huge spire at the very top of the asteroid, one who was very adept at using the dark side strode briskly past his bowing underlings.

Sado Kressh barely spared his Massassi warriors a glance as he headed toward the very top of the Korriban Spire. They bowed as they caught sight of him more out of habit than any actual requirement. However, Sado was the reigning Dark Lord of the Sith, and anyone who didn't bow in his presence could potentially be executed. At the moment, Sado had more pressing matters on his mind than reminding everyone who was in charge.

At the end of the conflict known as the Great Hyperspace War, this asteroid fortress, the last, desperate backup plan of Ludo Kressh, had headed for the edges of the galaxy and beyond. For 2,600 years it had raced into the void between galaxies, making contact with no one. Most of the interior of the fortress was farmland, so it was self-sustaining, but this put a tight limit on the maximum number of Sith that the asteroid could comfortably contain.

Then, 2,600 years ago, Sado's most revered ancestor, Lunen Kressh, had ordered the asteroid to be turned around. Lunen had argued that they couldn't run away forever, that risk was a natural part of life, and to avoid risk was to avoid an aspect of the Force itself. If extinction was to be their fate, as it had been for the rest of the Sith, then they would meet that fate head on. However, Lunen had also declared that a true master of the dark side could never be defeated by the foolhardy Jedi. Naga Sadow had been a weak pretender to the throne, and that was why the Sith had lost the Great Hyperspace War. Sado agreed with all of this wholeheartedly.

Now that they were actually nearing their home galaxy again, some of the Sith leaders had shown hesitation about returning to Korriban and their other home worlds. They had pointed out that their technology would be woefully out of date despite the best efforts of their ancestors to keep it deadly, and that even their own powers in the dark side could be overshadowed by other Force using organizations that might have sprung up in the meantime. Sado openly sneered at such weakness. For millenia, his ancestors had dreamed of returning home and destroying the Republic which had tried so hard to exterminate them. Once it had become apparent that they would be arriving home in his lifetime, Sado had become determined to be a Dark Lord that would be remembered in the same breath with Ajunta Pall, Marka Ragnos, and the accursed Naga Sadow. He was going to destroy the Republic and bend the entire galaxy to his will.

As Sado strode into the council chamber at the top of the Korriban Spire, everyone else in the room stood and bowed deeply. "Be seated, everyone." Sado said impatiently. "We've been debating for weeks now, with some good points on both sides." He lied diplomatically. "However, it's my decision, and I say we're going home." Those seated around the table were too wise to bother protesting aloud. Sado knew that he was going to have to watch out for daggers in his back in the near future, but he was very good at that. "The navigators tell me we can be at Ziost in under two weeks, so that's exactly where we'll be. If the race that currently inhabits Ziost consents to serve under us, they will be spared. Otherwise, they will face the same type of extinction we did." Now Sado's gaze lingered on the one being seated at the table who wasn't a member of the Sith species. His face was concealed by a fearsome looking mask of bone, sporting several symbols painted on with blood. "General Lael, what say the Kaleesh?"

Over ten percent of the asteroid's population was Kaleesh, a warrior race that rivaled the Sith's Massassi warrior caste in terms of raw strength. Their homeworld of Kalee had been deep in uncharted territory during the Great Hyperspace War. However, one Kaleesh named Saes Rrogon had somehow made his way offworld and joined the Jedi order, only to renounce the light side and become a captain of the Sith battleship _Harbinger_. Both _Harbinger _and it sister ship _Omen_ had disappeared shortly before the deciding battles of the war, and their final fate was unknown. However, prior to his disappearance, Saes had returned to his homeworld and asked for volunteers for the Sith, promising that they would be part of the conquest of many worlds. This had appealed to many young Kaleesh warriors, and even after their ranks had been decimated alongside the Sith, more than two hundred had survived to escape on this asteroid. In the more than 5,000 years since, those initial two hundred had grown to over 50,000 today. Sado honestly couldn't imagine life without the Kaleesh, and he got along with General Lael better than he did with many of his own race.

"Lord Kressh, my council's decision is unanimous." Lael reported. "We will share our fate with the Sith, whatever that may be. All of our warriors are at your disposal."

Sado nodded in gratitude. "General, I would like your honest assessment of our chances."

Lael closed his eyes in thought for several seconds, before responding. "I can't say as yet, sir. We simply don't know enough. Once we reach Ziost, I'll make reconaissance my top priority. Fortunately, we should have surprise on our side. As usual, secrecy and deception will be our greatest weapons."

"Exactly." Sado flashed a toothy grin. "We will not repeat Sadow's mistake. The Republic will not know of our existence until our teeth are at its throat." The Sith around the table all began applauding with varying degrees of enthusiasm, but Sado didn't pay much attention to them. As long as he had Lael on his side, that would be more than enough.

.

"At last we will reveal ourselves to the Jedi. At last we will have revenge." - Darth Maul, _Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace_

.

(Nanaki's note: If you're thinking that the Sith survivors of the Great Hyperspace War having their own private army of Kaleesh is somewhat less than likely, I would have agreed with you, until I read Crosscurrent. In addition to what I described above, note that it was never explained just how Saes Rrogon initially found his way off Kalee, a world that wouldn't be discovered by the Republic for another 4,500 years or so. I established here that the Sith discovered the world with Saes' help, but how Saes himself reached the stars is still a mystery. At any rate, Crosscurrent rewrote the history of the Great Hyperspace War quite a bit, changing it from the very brief conflict depicted in the comics into a war that lasted at least the better part of a year, so I figured what I did here isn't outside the realm of possibility.

On another note, since I know my father is reading this story, I just want to say that I hope you're feeling better today than the last time you wrote. Since I haven't gotten any phone calls from Mom at work, I'm going to assume nothing too serious has happened in the meantime. On the plus side, if there's one best place in the world for just relaxing and not worry about what tomorrow might bring, Hawaii would have to be it. I'm hoping that it is just an odd virus, and, if it's not too hokey, may the Force be with you.)


	7. Revenge and Rescue

**Star Wars: Return of the Sith**

**7: Revenge and Rescue**

By Nanaki

Kuat Drive Yards, Orbital Shipyard #9

"I've recently discovered that a business over on platform twelve is owned by Gadran the Hutt, and managed by several of his Red Star Pirates." Jaing Danar informed his son.

"Right here at home?" Jerin raised his eyebrows in surprise. "How come we're just now finding out about it?"

"It was hidden behind an expert screen of money laundering and dummy corporations." Jaing shrugged. "I'm betting Gadran did his best to hide it after you swore your oath to kill him. He knows where you're from, after all."

"Oh well, the important thing is, now I can destroy it." Jerin rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

"Yes," Jaing nodded, "But your usual strategy of charging in with all guns blazing won't work here."

"Oh, why's that?" Jerin folded his arm.

"It's a brothel." Jaing told him bluntly.

"Hell." Jerin let out a long sigh. "Even if I killed the managers, I wouldn't really be ruining the business unless I could get all the girls out." Now he looked up at Jaing again. "I'm assuming, being a Hutt owned business, that the girls are slaves."

"You assume correctly." Jaing nodded.

"How many?" Jerin frowned, clearly expecting a high number.

"Thirty six." Jaing replied calmly.

"Too kriffing many." Jerin leaned forward now, thinking. "There's no way I can sneak that many out past security. Not without shooting someone who doesn't deserve to be shot, anyway."

"As it happens," Jaing began with a grin on his face, "The head of security on platform twelve owes me a favor."

"Dad, everyone in this system owes you a favor." Jerin smiled as well.

"True enough." Jaing shrugged. "Now, it's too late to do anything tonight, but I have a feeling that tomorrow night, through a tragic scheduling error, there'll be no security personnel on duty in that sector of the platform between five and eight a.m."

"Excellent." A toothy grin lit up Jerin's face now. "Not only do I get to cost Gadran a TON of money, but I even get to be the good guy on this one."

"I thought that might make a nice change of pace for you." Jaing smiled as well. "Just do me a favor and don't set the place on fire, okay?"

.

Kuat Drive Yards, Orbital Shipyard #12

Jerin's heavy beskar boots weren't exactly quiet as he headed down the hallways, and even though there were no security personnel around, he still cringed. He would never have dared to wear his armor if he needed to be inconspicuous, because the sight of Mandalorian armor was a sure sign that a battle was about to start. That fact should help to make him nice and intimidating for any employees that remained at the Blue Haven brothel. Even heading into a potentially dangerous situation like this, Jerin was in a very good mood. He'd slept in late, taken his parents out to lunch, and gotten fairly tanked with Marus in an effort to fall asleep early. He felt totally sober now, though he knew he wasn't quite there. The only thing nagging at the back of his mind was the possibility that he should once again try to talk Tenn out of coming along. As the classic T-shaped visor of his helmet turned toward her, she merely raised an eyebrow in response.

For her part, Tenn felt no reservations about coming along with Jerin for this mission. She knew that at virtually any brothel, women of her species made up a fairly large percentage of the girls, and she figured she could help out. Besides, it definitely wouldn't hurt to have another Force user along. Right now, Tenn was pondering the significance of the color of Jerin's armor. She had read that Mandalorians only wore the sandy-gold color she was seeing now if they were on a quest for vengeance. That certainly fit in with what she had observed about Jerin so far, but his armor also had a green trim, and she wondered if there was any significance to that. Jerin had tried to talk her out of coming along, but with the absence of security, she didn't think there would be much danger.

They came to an elaborate pair of doors twice the standard width, the large "Blue Haven" sign above the doors still glowing. Technically, the place was open twenty four hours a day, but there were unlikely to be many, if any, customers at six in the morning. Besides, they had to let the girls sleep sometime, and hopefully any guards would be less alert in the quiet hours. Jerin pushed the button to open the door, and strode calmly inside.

There was only one man behind the counter, who looked up in surprise at seeing a Mandalorian in full armor. "Welcome to Blue Haven. What can I do for you?" He asked automatically.

"Do you fear death?" Jerin asked calmly. This was part of the code agents of Gadran the Hutt used to identify each other.

The man behind the counter smiled in relief, figuring he now knew what was going on here. The Mandalorian clearly worked for Gadran, and was delivering a new acquisition. Even better, that new acquisition was purple, a color that he'd thought didn't actually exist. They were going to make a TON of money on her. "No." He shook his head. "Death fears me."

Jerin calmly shot him in the head then, his blaster set on stun only because Tenn had loudly protested at the part of Jerin's plan that involved killing everyone who worked directly for Gadran. Jerin had eventually caved, realizing that what Gadran would do to his employees for losing so many slaves was way worse than just shooting them. Jerin blinked with his eyes focused on a particular symbol on his helmet's HUD, and the view inside switched from a standard to 360 degree display. Jerin stood unmoving for several seconds, waiting for more guards to come charging into the reception area, but no one appeared. "Security's a little lax here." Jerin observed.

"They probably rely on the station security for the most part." Tenn reasoned. "After all, we're pretty deep in the bowels of the shipyard here." That was true enough. Jerin had docked his ship in the closest bay he could, and even so, it had taken them nearly forty five minutes to get here.

"Well then, let's not waste time." Jerin turned the dim lights in the room all the way up, revealing a rather elegant looking circle of sofas, surrounded by curtains either light blue or purple in color. Then, Jerin banged the butt of his blaster on the counter several times, causing Tenn to wince at the loud noise. "All right, everybody up!" Jerin shouted.

Most of the doors adjacent to the main area opened up then, filled with Twi'lek girls of several different colors sleepily rubbing their eyes. No one actually came out of their rooms, however. "Everybody up, because we're leaving!" Jerin elaborated. THAT got a reaction, and within a few minutes, the main reception area was crowded with the full complement of the brothel, most of the girls dressed only in skimpy nighties that were at least somewhat transparent. 'I can think of worse ways to mess with a Hutt.' Jerin thought to himself as he started a head count. Several of the ladies were talking to Tenn, though they strangely seemed more interested in the purple color of Tenn's skin than where they were going. Jerin wondered if there was some kind of cultural significance to purple that he was unaware of, aside from it just being a very rare color.

When Jerin had completed his tally, he counted twenty seven Twi'leks, five Zeltrons, and three humans. His eyes had narrowed as he went along, and he realized that several of the Twi'lek girls couldn't be much over fourteen years old. True, Jerin himself had been married when he was only sixteen, but that had been his choice, not something he was forced into. Now something else caught his eye, and he frowned in puzzlement. "Why so many green?" He leaned over and quietly asked Tenn. A full twelve of the twenty seven Twi'leks were some shade of green.

"Well, based on what I've heard, Gamorreans prefer green." Tenn let out a long sigh.

"Gamorreans?!" A repulsive image came unbidden to Jerin's mind, and he shook his head rapidly, trying to clear it. "Shouldn't they find your species as repulsive as you find them?"

"That is the general rule for this kind of thing, but..." Tenn shrugged. "For some reason, it doesn't seem to apply to Gamorreans."

Jerin was momentarily at a loss for words, but then he realized that there was an important detail he'd overlooked. "Wait a minute, we're missing one." He raised his voice so that everyone near him would be able to hear, and not just Tenn. "Ladies, my intel said there'd be thirty six of you here, and I only count thirty five!" He called out. "Who's missing?"

There was a concerned murmuring for a few seconds as the ladies all looked around. Finally, one of the younger Twi'lek girls, this one of a dark blue color, raised her hand up and waved to get Jerin's attention. "Joona's not here!" She called out.

"Where might she be?" Jerin asked, though he was already starting to head for the back of the main room.

"Last room on the right in the main hallway!" The same girl pointed.

"Jerin!" Tenn called, and he turned back to look at her. "If there were more guards in here, she might be a hostage. Be careful."

"Don't worry." Jerin flashed her a thumbs up. "If worse comes to worse, I'll stun her and then get the guard while she's out of the way. But I have a feeling the Force will get me through this one."

.

Joona Sohm let out a contented sigh, thoroughly enjoying the attentions of the guard in her room. A Lethan, or red skinned, Twi'lek woman, Joona knew that she fetched VERY high prices, even if she never saw any of that money herself. As such, she was one of the few girls who rated her own private room at night, and that definitely had its advantages. One such advantage was being able to seduce a potential method of escape in privacy.

Joona had been sold into slavery by her own clan when she was thirteen years old. Now twenty, she had never allowed herself to give up on the idea of escaping, not even for a second. While the shift managers considered her one of the nicest and most cooperative of all the girls, that was simply a way to get them to lower their guard. Well that, and Joona didn't particularly care for getting hit, either. At any rate, the most realistic shot she had seen at escape in a long time had started working here one month ago.

His name was Denan, and he was an eighteen year old human with long, wavy brown hair. How he had ended up working here, Joona still wasn't clear on, but it definitely didn't seem like a good fit. Denan tended to blush like an idiot whenever he actually made eye contact with any of the girls, and he also tended to stammer and mumble while giving orders. Though orders, when coming from Denan, tended to sound more like polite requests, which some of the girls would occasionally dare to refuse. When this happened, pretty much everybody got in trouble, so Joona tried to make sure she was always around to back Denan up when he was working.

Fortunately, Denan was pretty handsome, as far as humans went. But even if he'd been the most hideous sentient Joona had ever seen, she still would have slept with him, because he was obviously smitten with her. It was a pretty basic escape plan, as far as they went: Shower him with affection until he'd do pretty much anything she asked, including helping her escape. So far though, it seemed to be working. Just the fact that Denan was in her bed now was proof of his devotion, since this kind of thing was strictly forbidden. In addition to worries about potential escapes, the girls were also supposed to save their energy for paying customers only. But Joona had him hooked now, and it had been pretty easy, since she'd quickly discovered that she was the first girl of any species that he'd been with.

The only potential flaw in her plan was that her feigned affection wasn't entirely feigned anymore. Despite being a nervous, goofy kid, Denan was a genuinely nice guy. He'd mentioned as casually as possible recently that he'd looked up Joona's sale price, and that it was more money than he would make in ten years. On top of that, Denan had clearly been feeling guilty as he reported this news. However, just the fact that he'd even been interested in buying her for himself tugged at Joona's heart in a way she hadn't expected. If he was only interested in sex, there were much cheaper slaves he could go for. As much as Joona hated to admit it to herself, there seemed to be some semblance of an actual bond developing between them. That was why she'd been contemplating her escape plan lately. If a low level employee like Denan was caught helping a slave escape, Gadran the Hutt would no doubt have him put to death in a most unpleasant way. Even though he was technically one of the people keeping her imprisoned here against her will, she genuinely didn't want that to happen.

So, when Joona heard a loud thump coming from the direction of the front entrance, she quickly tapped Denan on the shoulder. "Den, did you hear something?"

Denan raised his head up from where he'd been kissing her neck to look her in the eye. Then he looked at the door. "I don't hear anything." He said after several seconds. He was about to lower himself back down on top of her, when the sound of a door opening could be heard from up the hallway. Denan propped himself back up and frowned in puzzlement. "Why would someone else be up this time of day?" He wondered.

"Late customer, maybe?" Joona suggested, but she dismissed the idea herself even before Denan started shaking his head.

"You know better than I do they wouldn't use one of the rooms back here." Denan was looking at the door again. "All the girls would complain about being kept awake." They both kept their eyes on the door, listening for a good while before relaxing.

"Den, maybe you should go." Joona suggested. "We'll both be in big trouble if they catch you here."

"True enough." Denan grunted as he flipped himself over, laying down next to her on the bed. "The thing is, I doubt that I could successfully sneak out before the shift change. It's not like I have espionage training from Republic Intelligence, or anything like that. If I didn't know how to slice into the security cameras and erase all evidence of my visits, they definitely would have caught me already." They both remained quiet for several seconds, ears straining to hear anything, but there was only silence. "I dunno." Denan shrugged. "Maybe we're not the only ones who do this kind of thing."

"Probably not." Joona shrugged. "But it still makes me nervous."

"Really?" Denan raised an eyebrow. "Then maybe I can calm you down..."

"Den, I really think- ooh!" Joona let out a soft cry as an involuntary shudder ran through her body, though it definitely wasn't a bad kind. "Oh, I never should have taught you that move." She groaned.

"Why?" Denan grinned. "Because I use it TOO well?"

"Exactly." Joona nodded. She was still a little concerned about the noises earlier, but she hadn't heard anything else. She put her hands on Denan's shoulders and allowed a mischievious grin to return to her face. "You should know-" Whatever else she had been about to say was lost in the noise of the door being kicked open, followed a split second later by the dented door slamming into the wall. The hallway was dark, but in the light spilling out from her room, Joona could make out the figure of a Mandalorian in full armor. Unnoticed by anyone else, her grin got even bigger.

.

"You know, the door wasn't locked." Tenn informed Jerin dryly, but he gave no outward sign that he'd heard her.

Jerin let his blaster enter the room first, closely followed by the rest of him. The human kid on top of the unfortunate girl was staring at him with wide eyes. "Get off of her!" Jerin ordered forcefully. Now the guy's mouth was moving, but Jerin couldn't discern any sound aside from incoherent mumbling. "I said... GET OFF OF HER!!" To emphasize his point, Jerin reached out with his left hand, then used the Force to yank the kid out from under the covers, then off the bed completely, then to slam him into the opposite wall. The naked young man hit the wall with an unpleasantly loud sound, then crumpled to the floor.

Jerin didn't hesitate for a second. He darted forward, hauling the kid up into the air by his neck. Tenn would probably know that Jerin was using the Force to hold the kid up off the ground, but the kid wouldn't, and that was the important thing. "Tell me..." Jerin used his free hand to press the barrel of his blaster against the guy's temple. "Do you fear death?"

"Urgk!" The kid gasped, before he grabbed Jerin's arm with both hands and used that to relieve some of the pressure on his throat. "Is... Is there any answer I can give that won't result in me dying?" He croaked.

Jerin was about to remove his blaster and let the kid drop, but before he could, he felt another pair of hands on his left arm. "Please, don't shoot him!" Jerin turned to see the red Twi'lek girl trying to tug his blaster away from the guy's head. He had expected her to either cover herself with the sheets or make a dash for her clothes, but she was still completely naked, aside from her headdress. Jerin was suddenly very glad he was wearing his helmet, because he wasn't exactly looking her in the eye.

"Why do you say that?" He asked calmly, even as the kid began to flail his legs.

"Believe me, you could shoot anyone else who works here and I would do nothing but cheer you on, but this one is different from the others." She took her hands off his arm and instead made a pleading gesture. "He doesn't deserve to die."

"If you say so." Jerin let the kid fall to the floor with a heavy thud, then holstered his blaster. He didn't feel like mentioning that his blaster had been set to stun, anyway.

"Who are you, anyway?" The girl wondered.

"Someone who hates Gadran the Hutt with every fiber of his being." Jerin answered calmly. "I'm here to shut this place down."

Joona's eyes briefly darted to the door, but she knew the entrance was too small for her to have a chance of slipping past. She did her best to calm the fear that was rapidly increasing her heartbeat, and focused on the positive aspect of this situation. 'At least I'm going to be free.' She reminded herself. "All right, at least get it over with quick." She said out loud, bowing her head. "Because I've already suffered enough for three lifetimes."

Jerin was puzzled by this statement for a second, until he realized that she thought he was going to kill her. "It seems I haven't made my intentions clear." He remarked, then reached up to undo the seals holding his helmet in place. He removed it and tucked it under his arm, so the grin on his face was clearly visible. "My name is Jerin Danar and I'm here to rescue you."

.

"I like rain, I like ham, I like you.  
You're around, you're right here, so you'll do!  
I wanna tell you how much I love your mind,  
But it simply isn't truuuuuuuuueeee!" - Trey Parker and Matt Stone - "Only A Woman", _Team America: World Police_

.

(Nanaki's note: Sure, I could have gone for the "My name is Luke Skywalker and I'm here to rescue you," line, but that just seemed too obvious. Besides, I'm enjoying the abolishment of my self-imposed rule that I wouldn't use funny quotes for "serious" stories.)


	8. Darkness Approaches

**Star Wars: Return of the Sith**

**8: Darkness Approaches**

By Nanaki

Kuat Drive Yards, Orbital Shipyard #12

Jerin's grin broadened as the look of fear on Joona's face was replaced by bewildered amazement. "Yes, seriously." He assured her. "And I should inform you, you're still naked."

Joona looked down toward her toes. "Oh hell." She quickly began rummaging under her bed. "Not that my actual 'clothes' are a big improvement." She sighed.

Jerin politely turned away as she got dressed, to find a much less pleasant sight waiting for him. "Augh! Kid, I am damn tired of looking at your butt." Jerin's hand went to his blaster again. "You get dressed too, right now."

"Uh, yes sir!" Denan scrambled to his feet, then also headed over to the bed.

Jerin turned around, keeping his eyes on the hallway as the two got dressed. "What was going on in here?" He wondered, mainly to himself.

"I think I know." Tenn admitted. "But we probably shouldn't talk about it right now." Jerin raised an eyebrow, but let it go at that.

"All right, I'm as ready as I'm gonna get." Joona announced.

Jerin turned around to find her wearing a semi-transparent light purple nightie that barely reached down to the bottom of her butt. Under that, she was wearing some panties of the same material, but that was it. "THAT'S your version of dressed?" Jerin groaned.

Joona shrugged. "The only real clothes I have are what I was wearing when I first got here. Since I was thirteen back then, they don't fit anymore."

"Do you at least have some actual shoes?" Jerin wondered, looking at the fuzzy pink slippers she had put on.

"Good shoes would make it easier to run away." Tenn said quietly, and Joona nodded in agreement.

"Stang." Jerin grumbled. "All right, you better at least take the blanket from your bed. It's going to be cold in the docking bay." Now he turned toward where Denan was shrugging back into his jacket. "Now, say goodnight kid." Jerin raised his blaster again.

"You can't!" Joona threw herself between Denan and the blaster. "If the others find him here, they're going to assume he had something to do with the escape."

Jerin raised the blaster so it wasn't pointing right at her. "If you insist, but then he's going to have to come with us to the docking bay. I can't risk him alerting station security."

"That should be fine. I don't think he'll give you any trouble." Joona turned to look at Denan, who quickly shook his head.

"Fine then." Jerin holstered his blaster once more. "But we need to get moving. I still need to scan everyone before we head out."

"Scan for what?" Joona wondered as they headed out the door.

"Explosive implants." Jerin answered quickly. "A fairly common practice among Hutts."

"For slaves who perform manual labor, yes." Tenn nodded. "But I keep telling you, these girls are too valuable. If they escaped, their owner would want to recapture them alive."

"Even so, we still need to check." Jerin shrugged. "All right ladies!" Jerin called out as he strode back into the main reception area. "Before we get moving, I need to scan all of you for explosives."

There was a lot of murmuring, then one of the blue skinned ladies stepped forward. "We've been talking it over, and while we appreciate the sentiment, there's no way we can all slip past security." Joona wasn't too surprised to hear this coming from Nula. At thirty five years old, Nula had been here for over twenty one years, far more than half her life. However, she did have a valid point.

"If security was on duty right now, that would be very true. Fortunately, they're not." Jerin informed them.

"How can that be?" Nula wondered.

"Let's just say that I have friends in high places." Jerin smirked. "But even so, time is of the essence. I need to start scanning." He pulled a device about a foot long, attached to a small monitor, from under his cape.

As Jerin started scanning with the youngest girls, Nula turned to Joona with wide eyes. "Joona... We're really getting out of here." She whispered.

"You're damn right we are." Joona flashed a toothy grin.

"Just tracking devices so far." Jerin reported as he moved along. "And they don't appear to be booby trapped. Apparently the Hutt figured that the girls wouldn't be able to afford to have them removed if they did escape."

"What a fool." Joona snorted. "If I had even one percent of the money I've brought in over the years, I'd still be rich by any reasonable standard."

"Are they all implanted in the same place?" Tenn wondered.

"Yep. Back of the left leg, just below the knee." Jerin nodded. "All right, your turn." He walked up to Joona, who extended her left leg. "Spast!" Jerin cursed a second later. "There's something else besides the tracking device. It's not a bomb, but..." Jerin frowned at the scanner's display for a second. "It seems to be designed to emit an electrical current if it moves too far away from the brothel. Undoubtedly not a killing voltage, but I'm sure it'd be unpleasant just the same."

Joona let herself worry about the situation for a second, before she stomped her foot back down on the floor. "I don't care if I have to cut the whole leg off, I'm still getting out of here."

"I doubt it'll come to that, but let me check everyone else first." Jerin gave what he hoped was a reassuring smile as he moved along. A few minutes later, he had thoroughly scanned everyone, and the only other girl with one of the electrical implants was Nula. However, hers seemed to have lost its charge. "If your leg starts to hurt, tell me right away." Jerin instructed her. "But, if it can still generate a current at all, I doubt that it's enough to be noticed." Now he walked back over to Joona. "The bad news is, yours doesn't seem to operating off signals from an external transmitter that could be destroyed. It has its own self-contained sensors that determine when to shock you."

"So what you're telling me is, it has to be removed before I can leave." Joona surmised.

"That's what I'm telling you." Jerin nodded, then pulled a vibronife out of a sheath on the left side of his belt. "It'd probably be best if I stunned you first." His right hand went to his blaster.

"No." Joona shook her head, even as the tips of her lekku curled at the thought of what she was about to put herself through. "If we get into a situation where we need to run, I don't want to be weighing the others down."

"You... have got some serious guts." Jerin smiled in approval. "Someone find me a med kit!" He called out. He turned to see several of the girls rummaging under the front counter, not being overly careful to avoid stepping on the unconscious guard on the floor. Soon, one of the youngest girls hurried over and handed him a small, rectangular package. "Let's see what we've got here..." He hurried to tear it open. "Bandages, good... Gloves, fine... Pain pills, but these are for headaches and sore muscles, not injuries..." He looked under the gloves. "And that's it? This thing is karking worthless!" He looked up at Joona. "I've got bacta patches on my ship, but you'll have to live with it for the next hour or so."

"Fine, let's just get this over with." Joona headed over to the circle of sofas in the center of the room, and layed down on her stomach.

"Here, go ahead and take these." Jerin handed her a packet of the pain pills. "They'll take a few minutes to start working anyway." Joona tore open the packet and popped both pills into her mouth at once. Jerin was surprised that she hadn't asked for any water, but then he thought about it for a second, and realized that he had been foolish to be surprised. "Okay, here we go." He said as he removed his armored gauntlets and replaced them with plastic gloves from the kit.

"Just do it already." Joona told him. "I'm not enjoying the suspense."

Jerin double checked the position of the device with his scanner, then turned on his vibroknife and plunged it in. A muffled cry of pain escaped through Joona's nose, and her whole body tensed up, but that was the extent of her reaction. As the vibroknife sliced through her flesh like a hot knife through butter, Jerin realized that Joona wasn't going to give her Hutt owner the satisfaction of crying out, even if he would only see it over grainy security camera footage. Now Jerin felt his knife hit something more substantial, but he didn't pull it out. This was going to be the worst part. He used the knife and his right hand to widen the wound he had just made, looking for the device. Joona squeezed the couch cushion underneath her so hard that her nails sliced into it, but she still didn't make a sound. Jerin felt something solid between his index and middle fingers, then quickly yanked it out. "That's the tracking device." He reported as he flung it to the floor. "One more to go." Jerin plunged his right hand back in, and quickly got a grip on the second device. This one was much more pointy, and it took several bloody filaments of muscle with it as he pulled it out. Arcs of electricity started sparking from it almost right away, and Jerin threw it to the side even as he drew his vibroknife out with his other hand. "Done." He declared simply. "Let's get some pressure on that wound."

Joona slumped on the sofa now, many beads of sweat clearly visible where they had oozed from her smooth skin. She winced again as Jerin placed a large square of gauze directly over the slice in her leg, then wrapped it tightly with several layers of bandages. Jerin wanted to pat her on the shoulder and tell her she'd done great, but he figured that the last thing she'd want right now was ANOTHER man touching her. Instead, he picked up the still-sparking shocker device and stood up facing the nearest security camera he could see. "See that, Gadran?" He held up the device, then threw it at the camera as hard as he could. It bounced off the lens with a loud clink. "She's not yours anymore. Though it's obvious that in spirit, she never was." Now he walked close to the camera. "I'm going to take away everything that's yours, until you have nothing but your life." Then, a fierce grin lit up Jerin's face. "Then, I'm going to take that too."

"If you really mean that, we need to talk." Denan's voice was loud in the sudden silence.

Jerin barely heard him through ears that were suddenly ringing. He felt a surge of power in his body, and realized that his anger had filled him with the power of the dark side before he was even aware of it. Plus, in this state, it was obvious that he wasn't the only one in the area drawing on the dark side. 'Heh. See you soon, Seco.' He thought to himself. "Oh, I mean it." He said out loud. Then he blinked as he realized most of the girls were staring at him with worried expressions on their faces, and he forced a more friendly smile onto his. "But right now, we need to get moving!" He clapped his hands. "Everybody grab the blankets from your beds, then we'll head for the docking bay." The ladies hurried to comply.

"Well now..." Jerin walked back over to Joona. "Do you think you can get around just leaning on one person, or will you need two?"

"There's only one way to find out." Joona spun up from her position on the couch and stood up on her right leg, wincing as gravity took hold of her left. She took a few experimental hops without falling back onto the sofa. "I think one will do just fine." She smiled.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to be the one to help you." Denan said from where he'd walked up behind the couch.

Joona turned to regard him with a raised eyebrow. "I don't mind." She said softly. Turning back the other way, she saw Jerin was already heading back toward the front entrance. "All right, we better figure this out quick." She told Denan as he walked up to stand on her left side. He put his right arm under her left and around her back. They tried to take a few experimental steps, but didn't get very far. Joona quickly realized it was because she needed to put her weight on her left arm when she would normally put it on her left leg. "Okay, grab me tighter Den." She instructed him. "You know I'm not that delicate."

Over by the front entrance, Jerin was busy checking his weapons, and he seemed to have even more of them than Tenn remembered seeing when they first left his ship. "You're pretty heavily armed, considering there's no security on duty." She observed.

"It's a good thing I brought them." Jerin smiled as he lowered his helmet back into place. "Because I felt a disturbance in the Force not long ago. I'm pretty sure the Sith are here."

Tenn looked surprised. "I haven't sensed anything. But then, you are more familiar with the dark side." Jerin wasn't sure whether that was supposed to a criticism or not. "What do you want to do about it?"

"Nothing to do." Jerin shrugged. "If we do run into them, I'll keep them busy while you lead the girls back to the ship."

"The ship won't open up without you there." Tenn reminded him.

"True, but I don't plan on losing." Jerin answered simply. "All right, everyone ready?" He called out. "Here we go!" He opened up the doors, blaster drawn, feeling ready for anything.

.

Roughly fifteen minutes later, as they turned a corner, Jerin stepped into the hallway to his right to find both Sith calmly waiting for them. Jerin hadn't thought that they were this close, but then, he wasn't exactly an expert with his Force abilities. As the ladies began to round the corner, only to find Jerin and Tenn stopped in their tracks, what little conversation had been audible died down completely. "Mandalorian, you know what we want." Seco stated simply.

"I sure do, and depriving you of it will be a pleasure." Jerin poured his emotions into the Force, letting the Sith know that he truly felt no fear, only anticipation. "Tenn, find another route back to the docking bay." Not hesitating for a second, Tenn kept going straight through the intersection, and beckoned for the others to follow her.

As he viewed all the lovely Twi'lek girls peering over Jerin's shoulder at him, Seco raised an eyebrow. "Danar, what have you been up to?"

"Don't worry, it's not your concern." Jerin replied smugly.

"Negian, go after Tenn." Seco stated simply. "I'll be along shortly." He drew his lightsaber and ignited its purple blade in one fluid motion. Negian turned and charged down the hallway in the other direction.

"I figured you'd do that." Jerin grumbled. "I hate to be rude, but I'm going to have to make this quick."

"You LOST very quickly last time." Seco reminded him.

"Last time I wasn't wearing my armor, you pale murglak." Jerin reminded him. "You're about to find out that it makes a BIG difference." With that, Jerin raised his right arm up, but instead of firing his blaster, he launched the grappling cable in his gauntlet. Guided by a subtle use of the Force, it slipped right past Seco's efforts to slice it up, strapping his arms tight against his body as it wrapped around him several times. As Seco angled his blade up to at least slice through the cable that connected him to Jerin's gauntlet, Jerin yanked forward as hard as he could.

Seco spun in midair, landing on his back in time to easily parry the shots rapidly being fired from Jerin's blaster. However, even as he was firing, Jerin reached behind his back with his left hand and drew out a concussion grenade. As he hurled it forward, he felt Seco reach out with the Force and try to grab onto it, but Jerin already had it securely in his own Force grip. Jerin held onto it tightly even as it clanked to a stop next to Seco's head. But then, Seco was back on his feet, charging down the hallway away from Jerin. Jerin reached for the button on his gauntlet to sever the grappling cable a split second too late, and found himself flying through the air toward the concussion grenade right as it was due to go off.

.

"Oh, not good." - Obi-Wan Kenobi, _Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones_

.

(Character Name Origins #2: Tenn Sonata

First and foremost, I wanted to have a name with the same kind of rhythm as a lot of the Twi'lek names you see, like Bib Fortuna, Tott Doneeta, or Aayla Secura. While the men generally have monosyllabic names, with the ladies having longer ones, it's hardly a concrete rule. Sometimes that naming convention is turned upside down, with a long first name and a short last one, as with Luke Skywalker's lawyer, Nawara Ven. A look at Wookiepedia's Twi'lek page, while more baffling than informative, reveals a list of notable Twi'leks that have names that could belong to virtually any species. Really, if I hadn't already known Xiaan Amersu from _Star Wars: Republic_, I would have thought it was a Kaleesh name that got tossed in there by accident.

At any rate, the idea I was going for with the name is "two different kinds of beautiful". Tenn is a 10, absolutely, though I've been pretty vague on actual physical descriptions. Since beauty is such a subjective thing, I want the readers to be free to imagine her how they want. As for the "Sonata" part, by naming her after a beautiful type of music, I wanted to suggest that there's something beautiful about her that has nothing to do with physical appearance. Though exactly what that might be has yet to be revealed, as her backstory is still pretty mysterious...)


	9. Battle Without Honor or Humanity

**Star Wars: Return of the Sith**

**9: Battle Without Honor or Humanity**

By Nanaki

Kuat Drive Yards, Orbital Shipyard #12

Jerin angled his feet down and hit the button on his belt to activate his repulsorlift boots as fast as he could. Combined with the blast of the concussion grenade that went off a tenth of a second after he cleared its blast radius, Jerin went rocketing down the hallway, slamming his shoulder into Seco's back. Both men used the Force to pick themselves up faster than should have been possible, and charged forward. The grappling line around Seco had gone slack, so he had relatively free use of his arms, and he aimed his lightsaber right at Jerin's visor. However, Jerin used his left forearm to bludgeon the saber to the side, even as he continued running forward and slammed his helmet into Seco's unprotected head.

Seco's lightsaber almost slipped from his grasp as he staggered back, but then he spun into a flourish that finally severed the grappling cable around him. Jerin had to quickly lean back to avoid having his head taken off, then Seco's boot slammed into his helmet as he tipped forward again.

Jerin went with the momentum and used the Force to spin into a backflip, drawing his own lightsaber even as he did so. He activated it just in time to block Seco's follow up thrust. Then he tried to twirl his black blade free of the stalemate, but only ended up spinning both blades into the wall, which quickly began to turn a molten red. "I guess the armor DOES make a difference." Seco reluctanctly admitted. "But it doesn't matter. Your Force powers are nowhere near my level."

"We'll see." Jerin growled. Still holding his saber with his right hand, he summoned up the biggest Force push he could throw with his left. Seco simply ducked beneath it and aimed a sweeping slash at the vulnerable knee joints in Jerin's armor. Jerin jumped above the slash, but then found himself being hurled down the hallway by a Force push from Seco. He was scrambling to get back to his feet almost before he landed, raising his saber to ward off Seco, who was already right on top of him. Jerin still felt no fear for himself, but he was starting to worry about the girls. As he desperately blocked Seco's lightning fast strikes, he cursed to himself. 'Damn it, this is taking too long.'

.

As Tenn turned a corner that should have gotten them heading back toward the docking bay, she saw Negian emerging from another side passage at the same time. Instead of drawing his lightsaber, however, he simply slowed to a walk and strode calmly forward. "I'm glad I finally caught you away from Seco." He said simply.

Tenn held out a hand to indicate that everyone behind her should stop. "Do you have a reason to keep these ladies from escaping?"

Negian shook his head, his vestigial horns catching the light in interesting ways as he did. "I am no slaver. In fact, I'd prefer that this be a private conversation anyway."

"Does anyone know the way to docking bay H-4?" Tenn asked, though she didn't take her eyes off Negian.

"I do." Denan limped up to the front of the escaping column with Joona hanging off his right side.

"Then please lead everyone there, quickly." Tenn told him. "Even without security on duty, the station is going to start filling up with people heading to work soon. People who might report us to the authorities if they see us." She elaborated.

"What about you?" Joona wondered. "I get the feeling this guy isn't going to stop at 'conversation'."

"True enough." Tenn allowed a thin smile to appear on her face. "But this isn't your problem. Oh, and when you get to the docking bay, just find a place to hide. Jerin is the only one who can open the ship without it blowing up, anyway. Now go." As the ladies quietly filed past, most didn't dare to look at Negian. Only after the column had disappeared down the hallway did Tenn speak again. "You wanted to talk. So talk."

"You already know what I'm going to say." Negian sighed. "But I'll run through the main points again, if you insist. First off, this galaxy is no place for a single mother on her own. Especially one without a home or a job."

"Which is exactly why I'm going to give the baby up for adoption when it's born." Tenn folded her arms. "Believe me, I've thought about this."

"You can't do that." There was a pleading look in Negian's eyes. "Your child will have a stronger connection to the Force than anyone since Anakin Skywalker. Potentially an even stronger connection than he had, considering how powerful the child's mother is."

"Exactly the reason the child needs to be able to choose his or her own fate, and not be pressured into becoming a Jedi or a Sith." Tenn responded calmly.

"But also exactly the reason the child needs to be trained how to use its powers from a very young age." Negian reasoned.

"And you think you and Seco are the best people to do that?" Tenn's eyes narrowed. "Seco can't even control himself, never mind teaching someone else about control. Plus, if he does get his hands on my baby, he's going to use it to replace YOU."

Negian shook his head vehemently. "We're not like that. We're not traditional Sith, we don't follow Darth Bane's Rule of Two, and we've been best friends since we were little kids!"

"The two Padawans who were best friends have long since disappeared." Tenn told him. "If you haven't realized that much, there's no point in continuing this conversation."

"It seems not." Negian sighed. He unhooked his lightsaber from his belt, but then let it drop to the floor at his side instead of igniting it. "Whatever secret schemes Seco might be hiding from me, you WILL be safer with us than hanging around with the Mandalorian, and I'd die before I let you come to harm."

"So then we'd both be dead." Tenn shook her head. "Trust me Negian, every time I escape from you, I'm actually doing you a favor, and this time will be no different." With that, she thrust her right hand forward, fingers splayed apart as far as they would go, doing her best to use the Force to send Negian flying down the hallway.

Negian staggered backward with a grunt, but then thrust his left arm forward in response. Tenn had more raw power in the Force, but Negian had more training and experience. As they both struggled to blast their own Force push past the other's, the seconds ticked by with no noticeable change. Beads of sweat were visible on Negian's black tattoos, and Tenn noticed a purple sheen coming from her own arm. As she tried to draw on even more power from the Force, Tenn grimaced. 'Kark it, this is taking too long.'

.

As Denan staggered down the corridors as fast as he could, he began to get a sense that Joona was agitated about something. Then again, he was agitated too, and so were most of the other girls. Ever since they had run into the two black robed figures in the hallway, the escape plan had been falling apart. Knowing that they had to rely on the Mandalorian to win his battle was bad enough, but time wasn't on their side either. "Den, I'm going back." Joona announced.

"What are you talking about?" He turned to look her in the eye. "I'm pretty sure those two were enemy Force users! Even if you weren't injured, you couldn't take them on."

"I'm not going to FIGHT them, but I'm going to do what I can to help. Maybe just a moment's distraction will be enough." She explained. "Now let me go."

"Wait, if you're that determined... Let me go instead." Denan offered.

Joona shook her head. "You're the only one who knows the way to the docking bay. You have to lead everyone else there."

"Getting to the docking bay isn't going to do us any good if we don't have a ship." He pointed out.

Joona smiled at him. "If it comes to that, I know you're capable of breaking into a ship and getting past whatever safeguards might be in place on it."

"True enough." Denan admitted. "Though I'd rather not have another theft conviction on my record."

"See? They need you." Joona shrugged out of his grip, gritting her teeth as she put her weight back on her left leg. "Hold this for me. It'll just get in my way." She handed him the blanket that had been haphazardly wrapped around her shoulders. She also kicked off her slippers, knowing they'd come off anyway once she started sprinting. "Keep going!" She gestured for the others to get a move on.

"Joona, promise me you'll be back." Denan looked back over his shoulder as he started walking forward again.

"I'll do my best." Joona smiled. She knew that wasn't what he wanted to hear, but it was honest. She took a few deep breaths as the other girls filed past, then took a single step with her right leg. She almost collapsed to her knees as stabbing pain shot up her left leg when all her weight was put on it, but she managed to lean against the wall and stay upright. "It's going to take hours this way." She told herself. "All right, come on Joona. This pain is nothing compared to what you've been through. Nothing at all." She forced herself to quit leaning on the wall, and put all her weight back on her legs. "If you're going to be of any use, you have to run. Just run!" Without thinking about it any more, she took off down the corridor as fast as she could go. It was even more excruciating than she'd expected, but at least now it was an intermittent drumbeat of pain instead of a steady agony. Somehow, she managed to stay on her feet as she charged back toward her rescuers.

.

Seco flinched as their lightsabers scraped against the wall again, spitting yet more sparks. The sparks and occasional globs of molten metal were of no concern to Jerin, and he continued to press the attack. Though it felt like they had been fighting for hours now, Jerin knew it was probably around two minutes. He also knew that he had taken way too many hits on his armor already. Fortunately, most of them had been glancing blows that wouldn't have been fatal anyway, but even so, nothing could stand up to a lightsaber forever. If Seco managed to land a direct strike on the torso and keep it there for a few seconds, it would all be over.

Jerin's greatest concern though, was time. If he couldn't manage to win, or at least escape, within the next few minutes, then the girls' escape was going to be very short lived. However, precisely because he was worried about someone other than himself, he found that he was much less angry than the last time he had fought Seco. In fact, he was growing more calm as the fight went on, patiently waiting for Seco to make a mistake. Given that he didn't feel tired either, it slowly dawned on Jerin that he must be drawing on the light side of the Force.

So, as Seco trapped Jerin's saber back inside the metal wall once more, then batted it out of his hand, Jerin was ready with a Force push that sent Seco flying down the hallway, then called his blade back to his hand even before Seco landed on his feet. As Seco charged forward once more, spinning into a furious flurry of slashes, Jerin did what he could to block, even as he was aware that he wouldn't come out on top. So, as Seco sent Jerin's saber flying out of his right hand yet again, Jerin's left arm was already coming up to fire his other grappling cable. Seco's right arm was pinned against his body, but he managed to keep his left arm free, and immediately used the Force to spin his lightsaber into his left hand. However, he was a fraction of a second too late. Jerin used his right hand to slam Seco's left arm into the wall, then brought his armored left forearm up into Seco's throat as hard as he could.

Even as Seco's head was slammed into the floor and he began to emit a disturbing gurgling sound, he still managed to keep a grip on his lightsaber. For a split second, Jerin was tempted to try and finish him off right there, but he decided against it. Even in this state, Seco was bound to still be dangerous, and Jerin had wasted too much time on him already. Using the Force to call his own saber back to his hand, Jerin took off down the hallway at top speed, his armored feet clanking loudly as he ran.

.

Negian felt a new presence full of hostile intent charging at him from behind, but his options were limited at the moment. This new presence didn't feel particularly Force-sensitive, but Negian couldn't pull his punches right now. He was using every ounce of Force power he could muster, and he didn't have the energy to simply Force push this new person away. So, reading the Force to sense where this new adversary would be in one second, Negian drew out his lightsaber with his right hand and swung it in a tight arc behind him without looking. As Negian heard a thump behind him and felt his lightsaber hit nothing but air, he knew something was about to go very wrong.

Joona's sudden drop to the floor had been a complete accident, but it was the best thing that could have happened. As she'd gotten close to Negian, her left leg had suddenly given out completely, unceremoniously dropping her to the floor. She managed to control her fall somewhat, so she managed to avoid inadvertanly doing the splits, but her left leg was folded up under her at the knee. Through the sudden tears of pain that began flowing from her eyes, Joona could see Negian's red lightsaber slice through the air above her. As he began to turn in her direction, at least a bit, she raised her right leg and aimed a kick straight at his crotch.

Apparently her aim was a little off, since Negian simply spun his right arm into a second strike that headed right for her neck. A second later, Joona realized that her head was still attached to her neck, and the tip of the red lightsaber was hovering just above her chin. Looking up through her bleary eyes, she saw that Negian was staring at her with a surprised expression on his face. Joona didn't know what the cause of his hesitation was, but she wasn't about to waste this second chance. She pulled her leg back and kicked again, this time striking the sweet spot, to judge from the way Negian doubled over.

Negian barely had time to emit a groaning "Noo..." Then his concentration was completely broken and he went flying down the hallway, first bouncing off the wall on his right, then skidding along the floor before finally coming to a stop over one hundred feet away. Joona heard a loud gasp, then the purple Twi'lek appeared in her blurry vision.

"Wow, you're even crazier than I am." Tenn observed in between heavy breaths.

"He... He tried to kill me!" Joona couldn't seem to think of anything else to say.

"That he did, but he failed." Tenn reassured her. "And he won't be getting up again for a while."

Joona rolled onto her right side so that her left leg wasn't pinned under her anymore, but the pain from doing even that much was almost enough to make her pass out. "Neither will I." Joona gasped. "You'll have to leave me here."

"I'll do no such thing." Tenn told her calmly.

Joona saw many small white lights flashing in front of her, and her vision was beginning to grow dim around the edges. "You don't understand!" She was keeping her vision focused on Tenn now through sheer force of will, and even so, it kept trying to drift off to one side or the other. "I'm not going to be conscious much longer." She spoke slowly, trying not to slur her words. "Just go."

"If I was an ordinary being, I probably would have to leave you." Tenn admitted. "But, I'm hardly ordinary." She sounded more sad about this than proud. However, Joona soon found herself floating in the air as if she were weightless. Without its own weight to drag it down, her leg was suddenly free from most of its pain.

Joona realized that her vision had cleared up as well. "How is this possible?" She wondered out loud.

"The light side of the Force is excellent for relieving pain." Tenn answered. "Physical pain, anyway. Now, we better get moving." Tenn tried to draw on the Force so she could go into an all out sprint until they caught up with the others, but was annoyed to find that she lacked the skill to do that while lifting Joona. "Hmm... Keep watch behind us, will you?" Tenn used the Force to slowly rotate Joona backwards. "My Force perception will be dulled while I keep you in the air, and I don't want the bad guys sneaking up on us."

"Who are they, anyway?" Joona wondered as they moved past Negian's unconscious form.

Tenn could feel in the Force that Negian wasn't seriously hurt, just unconscious. "A couple of kids who are in way over their heads." She answered honestly. "But they're very dangerous, even so."

"It seems they're not the only ones." Joona smiled. Then, a thought occured to her. "Do you have any idea why he hesitated when he could have killed me easily?"

"That's simple enough." Tenn sighed. "He's got a pretty serious Twi'lek fetish."

"Don't they all." Joona's smile became lopsided. "Though I shouldn't be complaining, if it saved my life."

"Hey, feel free to complain all you want." Tenn shrugged. "I'm sure you've got quite a bit saved up."

"True, but I don't want to think about it right now." Joona admitted. "I just got sprung from a lifelong prison sentence, and I want to think about the future."

"What do you want to do, now that you can do whatever you want?" Tenn wondered.

"Buy some real clothes and eat rycrit steak every day for a week." Joona chuckled. "And after that, we'll see."

'She's got a better plan than I do.' Tenn complained to herself. 'Oh, what the hell are you doing, Tenn?'

.

"Rest now. You've neither won nor lost, but this battle is over for you just the same." - Teferi, _Magic: the Gathering - Invasion_

.

(Character Name Origins #3: Negian Kannazer

"Negian" has obvious connotations with "negative", but aside from that, I'm note sure where this name came from. Unfortunately, the Expanded Universe has given us very few Zabrak names that I could refer to as a basis for what a typical Zabrak name sounds like. I know of exactly three Zabraks by name: Darth Maul, who has a Sith name, not a Zabrak one, Jedi Master Agen Kolar, and Kass from the battle of Jabiim. So, I didn't put a lot of thought into this one; I just picked something that felt right.)

(Edit on 4/12/10 - So, I kind of forgot about Wolf Sazen and Maris Brood when I wrote the note above. However, I think my point still stands about not having enough names to know what a "typical" Zabrak name sounds like. Also, I was never completely sure if Maris Brood was supposed to be a Zabrak or not. I mean, her horns are pink, and her skin is pretty much pure white. If she is Zabrak, then she's definitely a goth chick.)


	10. The Ragged Edge of Disaster

**Star Wars: Return of the Sith**

**10: The Ragged Edge of Disaster**

By Nanaki

Kuat Drive Yards, Orbital Shipyard #12

Jerin charged right around another corner, then immediately saw a pair of feet right at the level of his visor. Jerin's brain made the snap decision that someone was trying to kick him in the head, and he quickly slid to the floor, impacting into the opposite wall with a loud thump. Only when he was down did he realize that the feet were bare, red, and dangling, rather than in a kicking position. "Ow..." Jerin groaned as he lurched back to his feet. "You just had to levitate her at that exact height, didn't you Tenn?" He complained.

"It was a complete coincidence, really." Tenn assured him. "Besides, I'm not exactly an expert at this kind of thing."

"Thanks for avoiding my injured leg, by the way." Joona smiled in relief.

"Well, it was a reflex, but you're welcome..." Jerin trailed off as he realized that he'd actually only heard her name once, and his brain struggled for a second before coming up with it. "Joona, right?" He finished sheepishly.

"Joona Sohm." She nodded, not looking offended. "And hey, I'm amazed you picked up my name so quick, with so many girls to keep track of."

"Well, let's just say say that you make a strong first impression." Jerin managed to say in a tone free of innuendo. "But anyway, let's use the Force to catch back up to the others, huh?" He turned back to Tenn.

"I'm afraid I can't do that while I'm holding her up." Tenn told him.

"Hmm..." Jerin thought it over. He sure couldn't do it either, at least not without practicing first, and there was no time for that. He could carry Joona on his back easily enough, but with the shape her leg was in, that would probably hurt like hell. Looking at her injured leg now, he thought her bandage had fallen off, until he realized that virtually the whole thing was soaked with blood. "What happened, anyway?"

"She gave me some help with Negian." Tenn summed it up.

"I ran." Joona summed it up even quicker.

"Eesh." Jerin winced in sympathy, even though he knew Joona couldn't see his face. "Well," he turned back to Tenn, "How far can you run without drawing on the Force?"

"Without the Force? About half a mile. Maybe." Tenn shrugged.

'You have GOT to be kidding me!' Jerin thought, but he didn't say it out loud. Instead, he turned back to Joona. "What kind of shape is your admiring idiot in?"

"Not great." Joona answered right away. "I don't think he gets much exercise, anway."

"All right then, let's walk. Quickly." Jerin declared, then set off down the hallway at a blistering pace, considering that he technically was walking. Tenn found that she had to break into a slow jog to keep up.

.

Seco let out a ragged wheeze as he put his right hand on the wall to steady himself. He had spent nearly a minute struggling to breathe and failing before he'd finally calmed down enough to use the Force to pop his windpipe back into its normal shape. Now he groaned and made a mental note that the next time he ran up against Jerin Danar, the Mandalorian's death wasn't going to be quick.

Seco reached out with the Force to find Negian, and was disappointed by what he found. Negian's presence was still strong, but it wasn't moving. Negian was most likely unconscious, or otherwise incapacitated. To Seco's dismay, not far from Negian he sensed another presence, this one incredibly powerful, that immediately realized it had been sensed and started charging right for him. It pretty much had to be Dirk Skywalker. "Come on!" Seco complained out loud. "Just once on this mission could I get a break? Just once!"

Seco felt genuine fear at facing Dirk in his present condition, and also a great deal of anger at Jerin for putting him in this position in the first place. Both feelings were pathways to the dark side, so Seco didn't even try to supress them. By the time Dirk appeared at the end of the hallway, Seco was standing up straighter, barely noticing the rasp in his breathing.

"Well Seco, you ran with your tail between your legs the last time we met." Dirk observed calmly. "Feeling more courageous today?"

"Not exactly." Seco croaked, frowning at the sound of his own voice. It sounded like he had a bad cold. "You're a little late if you're here to help Tenn." He decided it wouldn't hurt to try to talk his way out of this situation.

"I know. You already lost your battle against her and the Mandalorian." Dirk shrugged. "I admit I was a little worried, but it seems the Force didn't steer me wrong on this one."

"Shouldn't you be going to help her then, instead of wasting time on me?" Seco wondered.

"Well, it's shockingly decent of you to be so concerned, Seco. But no need to worry. Lucia is waiting just outside of the platform in her Stealth X. As soon as she senses Tenn's presence leaving the station, she'll move to catch the ship."

Seco allowed a smile to appear on his face as he shook his head. "That plan won't work. The Mandalorian's ship is too fast."

"We'll see." Dirk calmly drew out his lightsaber and ignited its green blade. "If you're going to try to run, now would be the time."

Seco snorted and drew out his purple blade in response. "I would never leave here without Negian."

Dirk raised an eyebrow. "I'm surprised you still have that much loyalty left in you."

"Don't act like you know me, Skywalker." Seco growled. "Because you never did, and you never will! Haaah!!" Seco charged forward, spinning into a furious series of slashes that would have been too fast for most beings to see. To his dismay, a look of triumph appeared on Dirk's face as he easily parried Seco's attacks.

Soon enough, Dirk was the one doing the attacking, and Seco twirled into a series of Makashi's trademark circular parries. Seco recognized that Dirk was using the Djem So variant of Juyo, characterized by raw power more than anything else, yet Dirk was delivering his strikes just as fast as Seco was. As the two battled up and down the hallway, it was taking everything Seco had just to avoid getting his arms cut off, never mind actually winning. 'Now would be a good time to wake up, Negian.' He thought wistfully.

.

Denan risked another quick glance behind him, then cursed under his breath. He was no expert on the subject, but he was pretty sure they were being followed. They were certainly drawing plenty of curious stares as they walked by, all trying their best not to look guilty or threatening. The brothel had been buried in the back of a neighborhood full of bars and restaurants that were mostly just open at night, but now they had entered a less nocturnal business district, and there were plenty of people in the corridors heading to work. Just the fact that Denan was leading a whole rainbow of Twi'lek girls would have drawn enough attention, but the fact that virtually all of them were insanely beautiful and not wearing much aside from blankets pretty much guaranteed that someone was going to call security, and soon. True, if there were any security personnel on duty now, they would have been captured already. Even so, just because there was no one on active patrol didn't guarantee that there was no one minding the comm back at headquarters.

Through the light crowd of people ahead of him in the corridor, Denan saw two Nikto striding forward with confidence. The Nikto were one of the slave species bound in permanent servitude to the Hutts, so if they were after him, chances were good that they worked for Gadran directly, and not station security. Fantastic. Glancing behind him once more, Denan saw two more Nikto hurrying up from behind. There could be no doubt now. Denan held out his hand for the girls to stop where they were. "Where do you think you're going?" One of the two Nikto in front of him asked as they closed to within five paces.

"It's not what it looks like!" Were the words on the tip of Denan's tongue, though he didn't actually say anything right away. It was even true, up to a point. He was technically a captive of the Mandalorian. Though that would sound like a pretty weak excuse right now, since Jerin wasn't here, and he doubted that the girls would have bothered to chase after him if he ran away. Still, he could pretend that he'd just been cooperating until he ran into some help, and that he'd just been stalling for time, trying to think of a way to keep everyone from escaping. He could probably get away with that too, and walk away from this experience none the worse for wear.

However, he also knew that if he did that, his relationship with Joona, whatever it might be, would be instantly over. Well, he certainly wouldn't be the first man who'd done something idiotic for a woman. "Away from here." He answered honestly. "That's all I know at the moment."

"I don't think so." The apparent leader of the Nikto whipped out a blaster before Denan had any time to react.

"You'll set off an alarm if you fire that here." Denan was relieved to realize. There were several banks in this area, and the owners didn't want to take any chances that someone might blast their vaults open. Any weapons fire around here would set off an alarm that would normally bring security running. "Besides, you don't seriously think that just four of you can capture so many people, do you?"

"Not all at once." The leader shrugged. "But definitely before they can escape the shipyards. But you're right about the blasters. Thanks." He flashed Denan a grin that didn't look friendly in the least. Then, both of the Nikto pulled out vibroknives and slowly advanced toward Denan.

Denan knew he could increase his odds of survival a good deal if he shouted for the girls to run right now, but that greatly increased the odds that one or more of them would get stabbed. Somehow, though he definitely wasn't feeling very brave right now, he just couldn't bring himself to do that. Denan went ahead and brought his hands up, hoping he could somehow manuever one into stabbing the other, then somehow taking that first one out before the other two reached him... Boy, this was not looking good.

Just as the Nikto leader began to dart forward, he suddenly skidded to a stop and tried to jump to the side. He wasn't quick enough, and the flying form of one of his comrades slammed into him, sending them both skidding down the corridor. The second Nikto that had been guarding the rear of the column came flying forward a moment later, though the final Nikto was nimble enough to jump out of the way. That last Nikto hesitated where he was, seeming to feel that he should do something, but apparently not willing to take on nearly forty beings at once, even if they were unarmed. Soon enough, the rapid thumping of armored boots arrived at the front of the column, and Jerin was charging toward the last standing guard, who quickly turned to run.

Jerin skidded to a stop on one foot, aiming the other at the fleeing Nikto. He hit the button on his belt to activate his repulsorlift boots, and although this caused him to smack his own helmet into the ceiling, it also sent the final Nikto flying even farther down the corridor than his teammates had gone. Jerin easily landed on his feet and strode calmly toward his downed enemies.

The Nikto leader managed to rise to a sitting position, hugging his torso in a way that suggested he had broken some ribs. The others remained where they were on the floor, apparently unconscious, if not worse. "Sheesh, you'd think Gadran would know better than to send so few thugs against me by now." Jerin observed calmly.

The leader looked up at Jerin through bleary eyes that seemed to have trouble focusing. "Gadran didn't send us..." He wheezed.

"What?" Jerin's posture instantly stiffened. "But if he didn't, that could only mean... Oh no." He turned to look back toward Denan. "Oh no."

"What's wrong?" Denan wondered.

"Everyone, run for the ship like your lives depended on it!" Jerin shouted. "Because they do! I'll go ahead and get the ship warmed up, but you all hurry!" With that, he turned and charged down the corridor as fast as he could go.

"What was that about?" Denan wondered aloud, barely noticing as Joona's floating form appeared next to him.

"I don't know." Tenn's voice came from just behind him. "But if that idiot is actually worried, we probably should be too."

.

Back near the brothel, the lightsaber duel raged on, but Seco was on his last legs, and both warriors knew it. Fatigue was taking its toll on Seco, and his rasping breathing wasn't helping matters. Seco tried to summon up some righteous indignation at the situation, but he was now too tired to feel much more than irritation. In addition to his deadly lightsaber styles, Seco had tried just about every Force power in the book, to no avail. His attempts at Force pushing and Force choking were swatted away by Skywalker with apparently little effort, and Dirk always managed to catch Seco's Force lightning on his lightsaber's blade.

The fact of the matter was, Skywalker had a completely unfair advantage in raw power, and he was the superior swordsman on top of that. Only a true master of the dark side could hope to defeat him one on one, and Seco was not that master. Not yet. 'Damn it Negian, where are you?!' Seco thought as he desperately blocked yet another ridiculously powerful slash from Dirk.

As if in answer to Seco's thought, Negian was suddenly jumping into the action with lightning speed, his red blade heading for Dirk's neck even as he ignited it. Unfortunately, the sound of the blade gave him away, and Dirk spun around to block just in time. "Hello there." Dirk said calmly, though he did raise an eyebrow. "Now, how did you pull that off? As far as the Force is concerned, you're still in the same hallway you've been in for the last ten minutes or so."

"I may not be able to hide my presence in the Force like you," Negian said as he began striking with the tight, efficient movements of Soresu, "But I know how to misplace it."

"Negian, don't tell him that!" Seco shook his head, then started heading back into the fray. Feeling too tired to be effective with Ataru, Seco relied on his Makashi style as he and Negian came at Dirk from opposite sides.

However, instead of the desperate defensive movements Seco and Negian were expecting, Dirk seemed to relish this new challenge, striking in ways that left him more open than when he had been fighting Seco alone. Yet even so, the holes in his defense always closed up before the Sith could take advantage. Even fighting both of them at once, he was just playing around.

Then there was a sudden flurry of strikes from Negian, and Dirk was clearly on the defensive. Seco allowed himself a smile for the first time in a while. Negian had switched to Vaapad, which was his favorite style. Vaapad had been created by Jedi Masters Mace Windu and Sora Bulq more than two and half centuries ago, and today it was a forbidden, mostly forgotten style. To be truly effective with Vaapad, the wielder had to let himself draw close to the dark side, actually enjoying the fight and the thrill of defeating an opponent. For that very reason, it was now a forbidden form, and for good reason, Seco had to admit. During the Clone Wars, Sora Bulq had fallen to the dark side completely and joined up with Count Dooku, resulting in the deaths of many Jedi. Even Seco didn't know all the details of how Negian had come to learn Vaapad, but he approved. Secrecy was an important aspect of the dark side, after all.

"Tell me Skywalker..." Seco spoke as he spun into a new series of slashes with renewed vigor. "Why DIDN'T you hide your presence in the Force when you were approaching?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Dirk grinned. "To draw you away from Tenn. And it worked."

"Why do you still care about her so much?" Negian asked through gritted teeth. "She turned her back on the Jedi a long time ago!"

"Yes, because her own standards of peace and justice were far higher than the order's." Dirk answered as he drove Negian back with his own flurry of strikes. "Not because she's a rebellious idiot like you two!" Now Dirk turned to catch Seco's strike on his blade, then forced Seco's saber up and aimed a strike at his knees. Seco jumped backwards, and Dirk had a moment to catch his breath. He could probably get away from the two of them now, but he was getting a sense that he could help Lucia the most by keeping the Sith occupied as long as he could.

"Later, losers!" Dirk shouted as he charged past Seco in a Force powered sprint. Negian hesitated for a moment, apparently unsure about what to do, but Seco instantly started chasing Dirk, just as he'd predicted. 'All right Lucia, the Mando's all yours.' Dirk allowed the smile to return to his face. 'Now trying to subdue these two without killing them will be the hard part...'

.

"Someday, someone will beat me. But it won't be today, and it won't be you." - Flavor text on the card "Last Word", _Magic: the Gathering - Darksteel_

.

(Nanaki's note: I just finished reading Fate of the Jedi: Backlash, which is probably my favorite Star Wars novel since Darth Bane: Path of Destruction. While they're vastly different books, they do have one important element in common: Lots and lots of characters with Force powers. I think I'm on the right track with this story.)


	11. Disaster Strikes

**Star Wars: Return of the Sith**

**11: Disaster Strikes**

By Nanaki

Kuat Drive Yards, Orbital Shipyard #12

Jerin let out a loud sigh of relief as he hurried into docking bay H-4, noting that the _Sword of Justice_ was still there and in one piece. Jerin knew how to use the Force for quick bursts of speed, but he wasn't able to draw on it for a sustained sprint, and it had taken him another twenty five minutes to get here after he'd left the girls. As Jerin hit a button on his belt to lower the boarding ramp, he noticed a starfighter parked next to his ship that at first he took to be an XJ32. However, he realized that what he had first taken to be a very odd paint job was actually a layer of anti-sensor coating, and he was looking at a Stealth X-12. He found his eyes drawn to the top of the ship, where an astromech with a blue and white color scheme fixed its optical sensor on him. "Holy hell." Jerin whispered under his breath. There was no doubt in his mind that he was looking at R2-D2, which meant that this fighter had to belong to one of the Skywalkers. He whirled around, expecting to hear a lightsaber humming to life behind him, but there was no one else in the immediate area.

"Hey there." Jerin waved a greeting at the galaxy's most famous astromech. Artoo tweetled back a reply that sounded friendly enough. "Are you here to keep me from escaping?" Jerin was familiar enough with astromech sounds to get the gist of Artoo's reply, which was a negative. "That's a relief." Jerin shrugged. "I'd hate to have to blast you."

Artoo let out a surprisingly long series of sounds that Jerin suspected meant something along the lines of: _I'd like to see you try._

"Well, I've got to get ready to go. See you later, most likely." Jerin waved as he headed up the boarding ramp.

R2-D2 deactivated the laser cannons that had been aimed at Jerin, a bit puzzled. This one didn't ACT like a dark sider. He filed away a recording of the brief encounter to show to Dirk later.

.

Eight minutes later, the engines were hot, the coordinates for the first hyperspace jump after they'd left the system were already programmed in, Arfive had activated the ship's antipersonnel weapon systems, and Jerin was tapping his foot on the floor of the cockpit in irritation. Finally, just as he was about ready to head back into the station to see what was taking so long, his security cameras showed Denan walking into the docking bay, closely followed by Tenn and the still hovering form of Joona. Then, instead of heading right for the ship, they stopped to admire R2-D2. Just kriffing great.

Jerin charged down to the bottom of the boarding ramp and started waving for everyone to get going. "Come on already!" He shouted. "Do you want to get off this station or not?" THAT got a response, and the rainbow colored line of young ladies began hurrying toward the ship. "Everyone find a place to get comfortable. We're taking off right away." Jerin informed the girls as they filed up the ramp. "I left some bacta patches out on the copilot's seat." He informed Tenn as she gingerly made her way up the ramp, being careful not to bump Joona's head on the hull. Finally, Denan started walking forward as if to go up the ramp as well, only to stop in his tracks as Jerin drew out his blaster again. "Where do you think you're going?"

Denan didn't look nervous at all now, Jerin noticed. "Do you seriously want to kill Gadran?" He asked calmly.

"Of course I do." Jerin responded, equally calm.

"Then I want to help." Denan said sincerely.

"Why?" Jerin wondered simply.

"I'll be glad to fill you in on the details later." Denan glanced up at the boarding ramp. "But for now..." He pointed at his temple. "Look closely and you can tell. My left eye is fake. My left arm is fake below the elbow. My left foot is a prosthetic too."

Using the infrared sensors in his helmet, Jerin could tell that that the temperature of Denan's left arm and foot was a good deal lower than the rest of his body. "No need to say anything else right now then. Welcome aboard." He holstered his blaster, then extended his right hand and Denan shook it, with a grip that wasn't quite as limp as Jerin had been expecting.

Denan headed up the ramp, closely followed by Jerin, who hit the controls to raise the ramp even as he was still walking up. Jerin quickly observed that he couldn't go any farther, because the main hallway was filled with confused girls, wondering what to do now. Jerin tugged his helmet off, knowing his voice would be louder without it. "Hey, we can't take off if I can't get to the cockpit!" He called out, trying not to sound too irritated. "Stay out of the left room just behind the cockpit, but otherwise find a place to sit down." Slowly but surely, the ladies opened the doors to the other four rooms and squeezed inside. Jerin noticed that they completely avoided the prison room, even though it was unlocked. Finally, he was able to hurry up to the cockpit, where he started the takeoff even before he was strapped into his seat.

As the ship began to move toward the docking bay entrance, Jerin reluctantly dialed his inertial dampers all the way up to one hundred percent. He wouldn't be able to feel the ship respond to his touch now, but he had way too many passengers who couldn't be strapped in to keep the dampers turned down. "Arfive, I want us in hyperspace the very instant it's possible." The astromech obediently plugged into a wall socket behind Jerin's chair, ready to make it happen. Jerin turned to his right to see Tenn gingerly applying a bacta patch to Joona's leg. Joona was seated in a chair right behind the copilot's, and her discarded, blood-soaked bandage was actually leaving a small puddle on the floor. Joona let out a relieved sigh as the bacta began seeping into the wound. "Better now?" Jerin smiled.

"Much." Joona smiled as well, tilting her head back and closing her eyes. However, after a few seconds she sat up straight again. She watched the view out of the cockpit with fascination as the ship moved out of the docking bay, into open space. "I often wondered if I'd ever see real stars again." She said quietly.

"You'll see plenty more." Jerin nodded. "You all will."

"So... Why were you in such a hurry to get out of there?" Tenn asked from the copilot's seat.

"Because that Nikto said that Gadran didn't send him, and I believed him." Jerin summed it up. "So if it wasn't Gadran, then it had to be..." He turned toward Tenn, but received only a blank look in response. "We're a long way from Hutt Space here." He elaborated. "There's only one Hutt other than Gadran that could have gotten men here so quickly." Tenn frowned, but didn't say anything. "Korgo." Jerin stated. "Since he's based on Coruscant, I'm pretty sure Korgo sent those men."

"Why are you more worried about Korgo than Gadran?" Denan asked from the back of the cockpit. He was wedged into a small seat behind Arfive.

"Because Korgo is several centuries older than Gadran, he's got a lot more money, and in my admittedly biased opinion, he's a lot smarter. If he thinks I double crossed him over Tenn, he might do something... drastic." Jerin explained.

"Technically, I think you did double cross him." Tenn observed.

"You're not helping." Jerin complained, but there was a slight smile on his face even so. Now the blue and green sphere of Kuat was steadily shrinking behind them, and Jerin turned toward his scanners... just as four laser blasts flashed by the cockpit, way too close for comfort.

"Jerin Danar, if that is your real name, come to a complete stop and prepare to be boarded." Jerin recognized the voice of Lucia Skywalker coming over his cockpit speakers.

"And just what have I done to warrant a seizure of my ship?" Jerin asked calmly.

"How about the fact that you're holding an innocent hostage, for starters?" Lucia shot back.

"Jerin, she's a Jedi. She's not going to hurt anybody." Tenn said quietly.

"It's not HER I'm worried about." Jerin frowned. "If Korgo really is after us, we don't have a second to spare." Jerin leaned toward his comm. "I'm sorry to say, I don't have time to stop and talk here." He told Lucia. "But if you'd care to follow us though hyperspace, I'd be happy to have you on board when we get away from this system."

"I wasn't ASKING, Danar, I was TELLING." Lucia responded. "Come to a complete stop right now, or I'll make you."

"She seems nice." Denan observed dryly from the back seat.

"Let me tell YOU something." Jerin raised his voice. "Jedi or not, you can't disable MY ship all by yourself, and that's a fact."

"Let's find out." Lucia said quietly. A split second later, Jerin's proximity alarms began blaring, and he could tell from the shudders that shook the _Justice_ that Lucia had just stitched a line of laser blasts all along his spine.

"I don't think you realize who you're trying to pick a fight with here..." An aggressive smile lit up Jerin's face.

"Jerin, let me talk to her." Tenn said, a pleading look in her eyes.

"Knock yourself out." Jerin shrugged. "Just make it quick."

"Lucia, can you hear me?" Tenn leaned toward the comm mike in front of Jerin's controls.

"Tenn, are you okay?" Lucia asked with an odd wheeze that made Tenn think she'd been in the middle of flipping her Stealth X around as she spoke.

"I'm fine. I'm not a hostage." Tenn assured her. "I'm also not coming back to the Jedi. Not right now, anyway."

"Tenn, damn it, you..." Lucia paused for a second. "I know this is going to sound patronizing, but I'm just worried, okay? You're just confused. You need the order's guidance now more than ever."

"Maybe I do." Tenn admitted. "But there are other factors in play here. I will see you again, I promise. Just not now."

"Even if you don't want to come back, I need to get you away from HIM." Lucia growled.

"What'd I do to YOU?" Jerin demanded.

"Oh, Jerin, you are so NOT helping." Tenn told him bluntly. "Lucia, believe it or not, he's not a bad guy." She explained patiently. "Maybe not an especially GOOD guy..." She gave Jerin a pointed glance, "But definitely not a bad one."

"Tenn, with my own eyes I saw him throw a burst of Force lightning that would have put Palpatine to shame!" Lucia sounded exasperated.

"I know. I was there, remember?" Tenn smiled. "But... How should I put this? He may have intuitively tapped into the dark side, but he's not consumed by it. It also doesn't look like he wants to be. Not the way Seco and Negian do, anyway. Plus, even if you don't believe me, you need to stop your attack. We've got thirty six innocent civilians on board here. Well, thirty seven." She corrected herself as she turned to look at Denan.

"If they're not hostages..." Lucia started, sounding confused. "Do I even want to know what's been going on?"

"Yes, actually." Tenn giggled. "But Jerin was right when he said we don't have time to stop here. We really do need to get going."

"Why?" Was all Lucia had time to ask before Jerin's proximity alarms began blaring again. This time his scanners revealed dozens of starfighters coming out of hyperspace in somewhat sloppy formations. They were virtually all very old, the kind of obsolete fighters that would be cheap to buy and easy for a private collector to modify. In this case though, they didn't belong to a private collector so much as a private crime lord.

Well, Jerin wasn't about to wait around to see just how many there were. They must have cleared Kuat's gravity well while Tenn was talking, which meant he was free to jump to hyperspace now. "Arfive, jump to light speed-" Before Jerin could finish his sentence, a large capital ship reverted to realspace, uncomfortably close to the _Justice_. "Now!" Jerin finished. Nothing happened. Behind Jerin, Arfive let out an excited series of beeps.

Jerin could read the exact meaning on his cockpit displays: 'The capital ship has a mass shadow generator!'

"But..." That didn't make sense to Jerin. The giant ship rapidly filling up his cockpit windows was clearly a _Victory_ class Star Destroyer, not any kind of Interdictor cruiser. Then, it started to make a certain kind of sense. The mass shadow generators on Interdictors generally made rounded bulges in the hull, making the ships easily identifiable from a distance. A _Victory_ class Star Destroyer was a good deal larger than a standard Interdictor, and if it only contained a single mass shadow generator, that generator could conceivably be hidden within the hull, leaving no outward sign of its presence. Of course, the Republic military had Interdictors with very small generators that didn't create hull bulges either, but such technology was very expensive. Whoever owned the Star Destroyer seemed to have created something similar on the cheap.

Arfive let out another series of beeps and whistles: 'Should I deploy the S-thread boosters?'

Jerin winced. "Not yet." He said tightly. S-thread boosters were a miracle of hyperspace engineering, able to create stable hyperlanes where there were none, or in this case, able to allow the _Justice_ to get away from an Interdictor. However, they were also incredibly expensive. If Jerin sold the three he currently had on board, he probably would have been able to buy another ten ships like the _Justice_. The S-thread boosters might be the only way he could get out of this mess in one piece. Even so, if he had to use them, he was at least going to blow up a lot of the enemy fighters first to even things out.

"Arfive, broadcast the following on all frequencies." He informed the astromech. "This is Captain Jerin Danar of the frigate _Sword of Justice_." He announced into the comm. "Would the motley fighters in piss-poor formation please patch me through to whoever's in charge?"

Scarcely a second later, the cockpit was filled with a low, gravelly voice that could only belong to a Hutt. "Jerin my boy, I think you know why I'm here." Korgo the Hutt stated calmly.

"Not necessarily." Jerin answered easily. "There are several possible reasons. What it boils down to is, at least one of us got played by Seco and Negian, but it's possible that we both did. If that's the case, there's no reason for us to fight."

Korgo grunted, before replying. "Jerin, you've been a good business partner on many occasions. But this time, you've betrayed not only your own employer, but HIS employers as well. However, I would hate to destroy a ship filled with such valuable cargo."

"You're talking about Tenn, I assume." Jerin surmised.

"Yes, partly, but you've got a lot more than that. Jerin, give me some credit!" Korgo laughed. "I know you just knocked over Gadran's brothel."

"What? You knew it was here?" Jerin's right hand began to tremble with rage. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"That's simple. The more you annoy Gadran, the sooner he'll put a huge bounty on your head. And until quite recently, you were a loyal employee. I was TRYING to protect you."

"You're all heart." Jerin hissed.

"At any rate, the merchandise you've just taken possession of is worth more than all the ships I've brought on this little excursion." Korgo said with a hint of eagerness in his voice.

"Including the Vic?" Jerin asked incredulously.

"Including the Vic." Korgo assured him. "So, if you could see your way to turning that merchandise over to me, I might be willing to overlook your transgressions of the past several days. Of course, I have no authority to tell Seco and Negian what to do, but I'LL be satisfied."

"Well, that's a pretty sweet deal." Jerin stated calmly, earning him a look of alarm from both Tenn and Joona. "But I think I've got a better one for you. You get out of here right now, and you get to stay alive." He grinned.

"You arrogant peon!" Korgo roared. "How dare you try to dictate terms to me?"

"I dare, because I know what Seco and Negian will do to you if anything happens to Tenn." Jerin smirked. "I dare, because I know you can't beat me anyway. I dare, because while you may have a whole horde of flunkies, I have the Force! But even if I didn't, I'd still dare anyway, because I'm Mandalorian! Oya Manda!" With that, the _Justice_ raced toward the Star Destroyer at full speed.

.

"They got a lotta guys... Yep. But, you need more than just numbers!" - Mu La Flaga, _Gundam Seed Destiny_

.

(Character Name Origins #4: "Darth" Seco

I haven't decided on Seco's last name yet, which is why it's not listed. Seco's first name is also a bit of a puzzle, in that I really have no idea where it came from. Seco has some obvious connotations with "second", but he's clearly the one in charge of the Seco-Negian dynamic duo. When I first started getting ideas for this story, there was going to be a big, dramatic scene revealing that Seco's full name was Seco SOLO. However, the Legacy of the Force series both made that impossible by getting rid of Jacen before he could have any male children, and also beat me to the punch on having a Solo as the main villain. Even so, "Seco Solo" has a certain kind of rhythm to it, and that may be where the name came from.

As for his character, Seco is basically my id, what I would be like if I had no self control whatsoever. As a result, he's one of the easiest characters to write, but I kind of gravitate between admiring him and fearing him. However, I think that's probably true of most people's darker impulses.)


	12. The Power of Justice

**Star Wars: Return of the Sith**

**12: The Power of Justice**

By Nanaki

Above Kuat

"Arfive, target the closest ten fighters with Burstliners." Jerin calmly instructed his astromech as he raced the _Justice_ straight for the Star Destroyer's bridge. Ten green circles instantly appeared on the cockpit's tactical displays, quickly turning red as Arfive achieved target lock. While this was happening, Jerin poured fire from his quad laser batteries at the bridge, watching it disappear with no apparent effect. As he had suspected, the Star Destroyer was sporting some powerful deflector shields. Even so, a broad grin appeared on Jerin's face as ten wide, but fairly squat missiles streaked forward in rapid-fire succession. The enemy fighters instantly began to take evasive action. However, once the missiles had cleared about two thirds of the distance to their targets, the nose popped off and five smaller missiles emerged from the body of each one.

The enemy fighter pilots were juking desperately now, but all over the place, wings, engines, and cockpits vanished into spherical explosions. On top of that, several pilots managed to dodge the missiles, only to crash into the fighters nearest to them. Jerin couldn't help but let out a laugh of triumph as they shot past the bridge of the Star Destroyer and he began to bring the ship around. "Arfive, prepare to target the body of the ship with two Supernovas."

Arfive whistled a short question: 'Not the bridge?'

"Not the bridge." Jerin agreed. Much as he would have liked to at the moment, he couldn't afford to kill Korgo. Jerin planned on having a huge bounty put on his head by a member of Clan Desilijic pretty soon, so he couldn't afford to have Clan Besadii gunning for him too. Two Supernova missiles should destroy the mass shadow generator and then some, allowing him to get away while leaving the bridge largely intact. Jerin put his ship into a wide semi-circle around the Star Destroyer, coming out of it to face the capital ship again. The fact that its turbolaser batteries hadn't opened up was a pretty clear sign that Korgo didn't have enough men on board to operate them. "Arfive, fire the Supernovas." Jerin nodded.

Two very large missiles streaked out of the two launchers closest to the main body of the _Justice_, noticeably sleeker than the Burstliners had been. Their thrusters were clearly visible until they closed to within a few hundred meters of the Star Destroyer, where they simply disappeared. "Spast!" Jerin cursed, instantly banking off to the side.

"What happened?" Tenn wondered.

"He's got dovin basals on board." Jerin explained. Dovin basals were Yuuzhan Vong-bred creatures that had an innate control over gravity. So much so that they could even create singularities that swallowed matter and energy alike.

"But... I thought their use by non-Yuuzhan Vong was strictly forbidden." Tenn frowned.

"It is." Jerin nodded. "However, Hutts aren't overly concerned about following the same rules that the rest of the galaxy does." Now he sent the ship into an elaborate spin as the remaining starfighers all opened up on him at once. "But that's fine. Neither am I. Arfive, launch another round of Burstliners, then prepare to deploy sonic charges."

"Sonic charges?" Tenn gasped. "Aren't they just as likely to blow us up as anything else?"

"Statistically speaking... yes." Jerin admitted. "It'll be all right!" He assured her. "I've used them before, it'll get the fighters to keep their distance, and I've got the Force!" Risking a quick glance to the right, he saw that she still didn't look convinced. Then again, what did he care what Tenn thought? "I know what I'm doing." He declared, watching the second wave of Burstliners disable or destroy at least a dozen fighters.

"Danar, do you have any idea what you're doing?" Lucia's voice filled the cockpit once more.

"I'm a little busy!" Jerin snapped back, his eyes fixed on Arfive's projected blast radius for the first sonic charge.

"You're supposed to be running away now!" Lucia sounded like she was talking to a three year old. "In case you haven't noticed, you're a single frigate against an entire task force, PLUS you're carrying civilians!"

"Um... Lucia, he's about to deploy several sonic charges." Tenn informed her calmly. "And I don't think he's in the mood to give you a heads up."

Jerin let a smile creep onto his face at the straightforward way Tenn had delivered that news to Lucia. He blasted straight at the pointed nose of the Star Destroyer, knowing that the few fighters able to get a shot at him in time wouldn't be able to stop him. "Arfive, deploy three sonic charges." Jerin nodded. The first released just as the _Justice_ started skimming over the dorsal surface of the Star Destroyer. It wasn't a terribly quick explosion, but by the time the second charge had deployed, the first had completely severed the first fifty feet of the ship behind the nose. The destructive line of the second charge impacted perpendicular to the dorsal line, creating an ugly dent with a diameter nearly a third of the ship. An unhealthy amount of the capital ship's atmosphere bled into space as the third charge went off, right at the base of the command tower. As Jerin had suspected, the deflector shields there were powerful enough to keep the bridge from sustaining any physical damage, but the shields themselves had to be low on power after that.

"I'm a single, deadly frigate against a poorly organized, Hutt task force." Jerin informed Lucia as the _Justice_ sped into open space behind the Star Destroyer. "Let's keep that in mind, shall we?" Jerin noticed a few more laser cannon blasts heading his way, and glanced up at the displays for his own deflector shields. They were holding steady at seventy percent. With a smile on his face, he whipped the ship around, sending it right back at the bridge, pouring blasts from his quad lasers at it. He needed to exhaust the dovin basals before he launched more Supernovas, or they'd just be wasted.

Now the enemy fighters were lining up behind Jerin for an unobstructed shot, and Jerin spun into a downward spiral that took him below the belly of the Star Destroyer. Jerin frowned as the capital ship's hangar bay doors began to open up as he shot past them. The _Justice_ had barely cleared the now-blunt nose of the ship when fresh wings of starfighters began to swarm out of the bay. "So, he was holding something back, was he?" Jerin raised an eyebrow. "Oh well, it doesn't matter. Arfive, prepare to launch another ten Burstliners at the newly deployed fighters."

Arfive's response quickly appeared on Jerin's displays: 'There are only four Burstliners remaining.'

"What?" Jerin was genuinely confused. "How is that possible? I bought enough when we were at Anaxes to take our stock up to one hundred!" Even as Jerin was protesting, coordinated fire from the new starfighters began to rock the ship, which Jerin quickly threw into a dizzying array of evasive actions.

Arfive quickly tweedled what sounded like a scolding response, and the displays revealed that indeed it was: 'You were PLANNING to buy more at Anaxes, but instead you went out drinking, only to stumble back at 0343 local time and pass out halfway up the boarding ramp.'

"Oh." Jerin uttered quietly as he tried to access those very fuzzy memories. "Oh hell."

'Should I deploy the S-thread boosters?' Arfive asked again.

"Prep them for launch," Jerin nodded, "But don't deploy them yet. NOW it's getting interesting." He observed as he brought the ship around yet again, heading for the Star Destroyer's bridge once more. "Arfive, would physically severing the bridge from the rest of the ship disable the mass shadow generator?"

Arfive let out a quiet, uncertain whistle: 'Possibly.'

"Then let's give it a shot. Prep the demolition chain." Jerin's grip on his controls tightened. He was going to have to slow down a lot to do this accurately, which would give the enemy fighters an easy target. As the _Justice_ raced toward the base of the bridge tower, Jerin fired the reverse thrusters, hard. "Fire the chain!" An interlocked series of powerful explosives shot from the rear of the _Justice_, one end attaching to the Star Destroyer, while the other was still in Jerin's ship. Jerin wound his way around the base of the bridge tower, slowly but precisely. Enemy fire slammed into his shields continuously, and the enemy fighters were closing in very quickly. Finally, the other end of the demolition chain detached from the _Justice_, and Jerin shoved the throttles to their stops, sending his ship rocketing away from the Star Destroyer.

Finally, several dovin basal-generated singularities appeared at various points along the demolition chain. However, this only succeeded in detonating the chain prematurely, since any segment of the chain that was severed from either of the detonators on the ends went off instantly. Next, the bridge and much of the body of the Star Destroyer disappeared in an enormous, blinding flash. Since the _Justice_ hadn't had as much time to get away as Jerin had expected, it was sent tumbling end over end several times before Jerin could right it. Thankfully, the deflector shields and inertial dampers held, so only those in the cockpit were aware of the close call. Also thankfully, the explosion had temporarily distracted the enemy fighters, all of which appeared to have lost their target lock on the _Justice_ during the blast.

Even so, Jerin cringed at Arfive's next series of whistles: 'Deflector shields are now at twelve percent.'

"Never mind that!" Jerin snapped. "Did we disable the mass shadow generator?"

Arfive let out a mournful tweet: 'Negative. The generator is still functional.'

Jerin swung the ship around to see that the bridge tower had been separated from the rest of the blackened Star Destroyer, but that the main wedge of the capital ship was still largely intact. Then, Korgo's voice could be heard over the fuzzy comm. "Ah, it was a good try my boy. It might have even worked if I had been stupid enough to be on the bridge. But, now it's time for you to surrender."

"Raagh!" Jerin roared as he sent the _Justice_ hurtling at the Star Destroyer once more, opening up with every energy weapon he had on board as he did. Unfortunately, more dovin basal singularities swallowed the vast majority of the bolts. Even more unfortunate was the rain of starfighter bolts that slammed into his own ship while he was charging forward.

Arfive let out a very alarmed whistle: 'Deflector shields are at three percent!'

"Kark it all!" Jerin slammed his fist down on his console, accidentally turning on the air conditioning and dimming the lighting throughout the ship. As he raced above the Star Destroyer yet again, he could do nothing but throw the ship into new evasive patterns. He slowly became aware that Lucia's Stealth-X had jumped into the fray, trying to keep the attention of the enemy fighers on her and away from him. Jerin's first thought was to use this opportunity for another attack run, but then the small part of his brain that was actually responsible finally stepped in. 'Hey, you're thinking with your pride, not your wits!' He yelled at himself. 'If you want to get yourself killed, do it when you don't have innocent people on board!'

Jerin let out a long sigh, then, "Arfive, can a stable hyperlane be created with just one S-thread booster?" Jerin hadn't been aware that the other three in the cockpit had been holding their breath, until they all exhaled at once.

Arfive's tweedled response somehow sounded relieved as well: 'Yes, but it won't be very long. It probably won't even get us past the system's heliopause.'

"That'll be enough." Jerin shrugged. "Just do the calculations for our first real hyperspace jump as fast as you can when we revert."

"Wait a minute..." Tenn frowned at Jerin. "You have S-thread boosters on board? Why didn't you use them right at the start?"

"Deploy it now." Jerin told Arfive. Then he answered Tenn as he began flipping several switches on his console. "Because I was confident that I could get away without them, and because each one is more expensive than the entire ship."

"But, if it's a matter of life and death..." Tenn shook her head slowly. "It seems like a foolish risk to take."

Jerin simply shrugged. "I never claimed that I wasn't a fool." At that, the cockpit windows were surrounded by the swirling colors of hyperspace, but just for a fraction of a second. Even Jerin would have wondered if he'd imagined it, except that the light of Kuat's sun behind them had dimmed quite a bit, so that now it was barely brighter than several other nearby stars. "All right Arfive, get us out of here for real." Jerin ordered.

'Where to?' Arfive whistled quietly.

"Rimward." Jerin answered simply. "But keep us off the Kuat Trade Spine proper for the first ten light years, at least. Just point us in the same general direction."

'Even by your standards, those were some vague instructions.' Arfive observed.

"I'll leave the details to your impeccable judgment." Jerin shrugged.

"Why rimward?" Tenn wondered.

"If Korgo has reinforcements in the area, they're much more likely to be deployed to prevent us from heading back to the Core, than to prevent us from heading out to the rim." Jerin explained. "Besides, I don't think it'd be safe to drop the girls off on Coruscant for the immediate future. Not now that I know Korgo wants to get his hands on them." Jerin glanced out of the corner of his eye to find that Tenn was staring at him again. "What?"

"How can someone be so smart and yet so stupid at the same time?" She asked bluntly.

"I'm Mandalorian." Jerin answered as if that was supposed to explain everything. "Ready Arfive?" The astromech chirped an affirmative. "Light speed now!" The stars ahead stretched into long lines of light, indicating that the upcoming jump was more than a short hop, then the _Justice_ disappeared into the otherwordly colors of hyperspace.

"Whew!" Denan stretched out in his cramped seat. "Now that we've gotten away, I think it's safe to say, that was awesome!"

"It was NOT!" Tenn instantly declared. "That was a perfect example of why Dathomir and the Hapan Cluster are ruled by women."

"I hate to break it to you, but any self-respecting Mando woman would have done the same thing I did." Jerin smiled, apparently not offended in the least.

"And Mandalorians are just crazy no matter how you look at it." Tenn folded her arms.

Joona's still rapidly beating heart was inclined to agree with Tenn, but she couldn't help admiring the way Jerin didn't take any crap from anyone. The way he wouldn't let anyone tell him what to do, even when it probably would have been smarter if he did. It also hadn't escaped her notice that Jerin's grudge was against Gadran, and so he had no personal reason not to turn the girls over to Korgo. Yet he hadn't, and had been infuriated by the very prospect. Joona suspected that Jerin Danar was a more complicated person than Tenn was giving him credit for...

.

"Korgo, if you want any of your fighter pilots to still be alive more than two minutes from now, you'd better order them to stand down!" Lucia shouted. Her astromech, a state of the art R24 unit nicknamed "Sparkster" for no reason anyone was aware of, whistled an imperious agreement. She had once again felt Tenn's presence in the Force disappear from the area, and once again found that it did nothing to improve her mood.

"Stand down, all of you!" Korgo ordered sharply, and the motley collection of fighters began to circle back toward the battered Star Destroyer. "Please forgive them, Master Jedi." Korgo switched to a smoother, albeit insultingly insincere, tone of voice. "Their loyalty to me is absolute. They were merely insuring my safety, not trying to take revenge for their comrades that you shot down."

"I'm sure." Lucia rolled her eyes. "Now Korgo, give me one good reason why I shouldn't arrest the lot of you."

"I was under the impression that a prerequisite for an arrest was that a crime had been committed." Korgo stated reasonably. "I'm sure this is true even in the Jedi Order."

"It is." Lucia was starting to see where he was going with this, and already starting to get mad.

"May I inquire as to what crime my forces have committed?" Korgo sounded even more reasonable than before. Downright friendly, in fact.

"Well, in addition to possessing a capital ship that's classified as for military use only, you were doing your best to destroy a ship full of innocent civilians. How's that for starters?" Lucia drummed her fingers on her console.

"I'm afraid you're mistaken on both counts, Master Jedi." Korgo responded calmly. "The _Victory_ Class Star Destroyer is only prohibited from civilian use if it has operational offensive weapons, which mine does not." Lucia was sure that his turbolasers were only non-operational in a very technical way, but he probably had her on that one. "Second, I was not attempting to destroy the ship in question, but to capture it. I'm familiar with the capabilities of Jerin Danar's ship, as well as Danar himself, and I needed him to exhaust his ammunition before I could safely lock onto his ship with a tractor beam."

Lucia struggled to supress a laugh. 'Right. He would have killed you if you didn't have dovin basals on board.' Lucia thought, but didn't say anything out loud right away. "And what would be your motivation for capturing him, I wonder?"

"I'm afraid contractual obligations keep me from answering you fully. However, it's partly due to my concern as a citizen of the Republic." Korgo tried to sound concerned, and didn't succeed. "As you're probably aware, I AM a legalized citizen of the Republic, unlike most of my fellow Hutts. Danar's rogue actions at Brentaal and now here cannot be tolerated."

Lucia let out a world-weary sigh. "If that's the way you want to spin it, there's not much I can do to stop you. We both know that you can afford a way better lawyer than the Jedi if I try. However, I advise you to leave such matters to the proper authorities in the future."

"Of course. I never meant to cause any inconvenience to the Jedi." Korgo stated.

"Of course. That was just a side benefit." Lucia smirked. "Korgo, I have to tell you in all honesty, I find your severe stretching of the truth to be quite irritating. Irritation can lead to anger. And it's not wise to anger a Jedi, because if you anger us TOO much, then we won't be Jedi anymore."

"I take your meaning." Korgo said quickly.

"Do you? Then see you take it to heart." Lucia said icily, knowing he wouldn't. "But I don't have any more time to argue with you." With that, she blasted her Stealth-X back toward Kuat, reaching out in the Force to try to sense exactly what was happening on the orbital platforms. 'Dirk, you should have been back a long time ago! What's going on?'

.

"I think I used up all my good luck and all my bad luck in the same fall." - Gerrard Capashen, _Magic: the Gathering - Tempest_

.

(Nanaki's note: The demolition chain is a piece of technology I borrowed from _Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory_. However, any technology that exists in the Gundam universe would easily be doable in the Star Wars universe, even without Minovsky particles. Come to think of it, why DON'T Sith Lords fly around wreaking havoc in fifty foot tall robots? Hmm... Ideas are occuring here. On another note, "Mournful Tweet" would be a great name for a band.)


	13. Everything or Nothing

**Star Wars: Return of the Sith**

**13: Everything or Nothing**

By Nanaki

Kuat Drive Yards, Orbital Shipyard #12

Dirk Skywalker blinked rapidly as sweat dripped into his eyes, doing his best not to make any noise. The fight had recently spilled over into this water pumping and heating station, where Seco and Negian had killed the lights and slashed open several valves in short order. Now Dirk stood in a river of tepid, ankle deep water, the heat and humidity in the chamber sufficient to make him wish he wasn't wearing any clothes at all, not that even that would have helped to cool him down all that much.

Seco and Negian had revealed yet another annoying new trick, as each of them was somehow emitting four identical Force presences that were scattered randomly around the chamber. Dirk had no idea which might be the real one, if any of them were, since Negian had earlier demonstrated his ability to "misplace" his Force presence away from his actual location. Both of Dirk's opponent's had deactivated their lightsabers, and Dirk had quickly done the same, knowing that his glowing green blade would only give away his position. However, the longer this dragged on, the more the battle would swing in the favor of the dark siders. "If all you wanted to do was play hide and seek, you should have just said so!" Dirk called out.

"What the hell is your problem?" Seco called back angrily. "I would think that by now it's clear that you can't beat us alone, and we unfortunately can't beat you either."

"Trust me, if I wanted you dead, you'd be dead." Dirk answered calmly. "But now that I've actually got you cornered, you're coming back to the Temple with me, like it or not."

"Oh, how sickeningly NOBLE you are, Skywalker." Dirk was quick to note that now Seco's voice seemed to be coming from a different location than it had at first. "The Skywalker family is going to 'save' another wayward dark sider, is that it?"

"That is the general idea." Dirk agreed. "But even if you're utterly beyond help, you can't be allowed to just wander around the galaxy at will. You're too dangerous to innocent people."

"_Innocent_ people?" Seco sneered. "No one who helps to maintain the Republic's ridiculous status quo is innocent!" Now Seco's voice seemed to be coming from somewhere behind Dirk.

"So, now you're disguising your incredibly selfish behavior as righteous political outrage? That's a new tactic for you." Dirk observed calmly. "You know, a LOT of people have fought and died over the years for that status quo you're so critical of."

"And it was all a karking WASTE!" Seco's purple blade ignited about ten feet to Dirk's left, then slashed forward without hesitation. Dirk brought his green blade up to block just in time, even while watching for Negian out of the corner of his eye. However, the Zabrak was nowhere to be seen. "For millenia, the Jedi have propped up this absurd system, all while willfully ignoring the fact that _democracy doesn't work_!" Seco was apparently so filled with rage now that his lightsaber strikes were unusually clumsy. It was equally apparent that Seco had caught his second wind, so his strikes were also stronger than they had been at first.

"Wow, are you a Sith or a pundit?" Dirk asked calmly. "Systems that don't work don't last for 25,000 years." He responded.

"And the Republic sure as hell didn't!" Seco snarled. He was driving Dirk back now, but they both knew that was only because Dirk was letting it happen. "It collapsed over and over and over again, reforming each time only because, for some reason beyond my comprehension, the Jedi wanted it to."

"I suppose you think you have a better way." Dirk surmised, even as he spun down into a slash at Seco's ankles. Seco jumped above it, and a fresh cloud of steam rushed into the air as Dirk's lightsaber hit the water.

"No, I don't." Seco shrugged. "All I want is the power to ensure my own happiness and well-being. Anything beyond that is too large of a task for one person to manage alone. That's what Palpatine and Krayt never realized."

"They did both have huge armies at their disposal." Dirk remarked dryly as he continued backing up.

"And they still failed in the end! You're making my point for me, here." Seco smirked.

"Seco, I don't think you have the capability to be happy anymore." Dirk shook his head. "That's assuming that you ever did in the first place." He abandoned proper technique for a second to charge forward with a two handed horizontal slash that sent Seco staggering back.

"On the contrary..." Seco switched his lightsaber to his left hand, then stretched his right out, parallel to the floor, fingers spread apart. "THIS will make me very happy." With that, several forking bolts of Force lightning shot from his fingers. Dirk quickly raised his lightsaber up to block, but realized at the last instant that Seco wasn't aiming directly at him. Rather, Seco was aiming at the water around his feet.

Dirk hurtled into the air in a Force powered jump a fraction of a second too late, the Force lightning arcing up his legs even as he took off. Dirk had meant to somersault backwards, hopefully landing on top of one of the huge water tanks in the chamber, but now he was heading pretty much straight up. However, as he caught a glimpse of Seco out of the corner of his eye, he saw that the Force lightning was flowing through the water in all directions. Seco had to have shocked himself pretty badly in order to hit Dirk. As Dirk hit the apex of his jump, he managed to straighten himself out, ready to land on his feet.

At that exact moment, Negian's booted foot connected with Dirk's back, very hard. The strike was slightly off center, but still on target enough to send Dirk hurtling toward the floor at high speed. In the split second he had, Dirk did his best to curl into a ball and draw on the Force to keep his body intact. He didn't succeed completely in either task. Dirk slammed into the floor on his left side, sending up a spray of water that continued to arc with electricity. Then the Force lightning homed in on him with a vengeance, arcing into him from all sides.

The surge of elation Seco felt was somewhat tempered by the fact that Dirk had yet to make a sound, even as he writhed. Then, somehow, barely four seconds after he had hit the floor, Dirk started to rise, the Force lightning now homing in on his lightsaber blade, instead of his body. "For kark's sake!" Seco swore. "What does it take?"

"More than you've got, kid." Dirk grinned. He couldn't help but notice that the Force lightning flowing through the water around Seco's feet passed right through Seco, as though he wasn't there at all. Dirk was also not as invincible as he wanted the Sith to believe. He had at least two broken ribs, one of the bones in his left forearm was fractured, and he'd broken two of the fingers on his left hand as well. Fortunately, he also had the Force, and he was far stronger in the light side than these two were in the dark. As he charged forward once more, he felt no pain, though he was going to have to fight one handed from here on out.

As Seco finally cut off his flow of Force lightning and returned both hands to his lightsaber, he merely shrugged. "It doesn't matter how many times you get back up, we'll just keep beating you down. After all, it's always been easier to destroy than to create or protect."

"That much is true." Dirk admitted as he twirled into a series of horizontal slashes. "Which is why TRUE power is not the ability to cut down your enemies, but to protect the people you care about."

"You're not protecting anyone right now." Seco observed. "Which means we have the advantage." Seco spun to Dirk's left side and started hacking from there, putting Dirk in an awkward defensive position.

"Not so." Dirk grunted. "Even now, I'm protecting Lucia. And Tenn. And the Republic!" He let loose with a Force push that slammed Seco back into one of the smaller water tanks in the chamber. Seco groaned and took a wobbly step forward, but Dirk would be on him before he could-

"Tenn was never yours to protect!" Negian's snarl came from just behind him, and Dirk turned to face this new threat, which was exactly what Negian had wanted him to do. As Dirk was halfway through his pivot, Negian landed another brutal kick directly to the broken ribs on Dirk's left side. Dirk went flying into the nearest wall, emitting a low groan as he went. Even as Negian closed on him, Dirk was trying to get back to his feet, but he wasn't succeeding this time. Negian used the Force to lift Dirk high into the air, where Seco hit him with a massive Force push that sent him sailing into the far corner of the chamber, well beyond the visual range offered by the glow of Seco's lightsaber.

Seco started to stagger off in that direction. "No, it's time to go." Negian stated simply.

"But, we can actually finish him off here!" Seco gestured in Dirk's direction.

"And do you really want to deal with the massive manhunt the Jedi will send our way if we kill a Skywalker?" Negian asked, already knowing the answer. "C'mon, let's go meet up with Korgo."

"All right." Seco started heading for the door that they had come in through, only to stop and look over his shoulder. "One day..." He promised himself.

"One day, we will be invincible." Negian nodded. "But today is not that day. Let's go."

.

Wild Space

A virtual rain of blaster bolts rushed at Sado Kressh from all directions. Ducking and twirling his lightsaber in a steady rhythm, Sado batted them back away from him, often into the droid that had fired the shot in the first place. It wasn't easy, but then, that was the point of the exercise: It wasn't supposed to be easy. The Dark Lord was surrounded by thirty droids in his personal training chamber, currently engaged in a training exercise to help him get used to fighting large numbers of "normal" troops. Sado would never have survived to adulthood, never mind to become the Dark Lord, if he hadn't already been an expert at dueling fellow Force users one on one. However, even though none of the Sith Lords were expected to fight Republic troops directly, Sado was well aware that it could still happen. He was also well aware that if it did, he would likely be fighting more than thirty enemies at once. To compensate, the droids' rate of fire had been increased by thirty percent, and two had had their speed doubled on top of that, to represent Force-sensitive individuals. As an added hurdle, the droids' blasters weren't set to stun, as the Dark Lord refused to fight a "coward's battle", even in training. With all of these factors, Sado was convinced that he was getting a good idea of what it would be like to fight a large number of Republic soldiers at once. Also, the droids did not broadcast hostile intent into the Force, as they were simply following their programming. This made it harder to anticipate their movements, and Sado was sure that it would be easier against living opponents.

Sado had eliminated about six of the droids with reflected blaster bolts so far. If he had been able to anticipate their movements like he could with living beings, he would have gone ahead and started attacking at close range. Under the circumstances, he figured he would have to whittle their numbers down to around fifteen before he could close to melee range. Then, behind the Dark Lord, the door to the chamber slid open quietly, and several of the droids immediately turned to attack the newcomer.

Sado turned to see General Lael calmly activate his own red blade and start batting the blaster bolts away with ease, his eyes not even widenening underneath his mask. His feline pupils narrowed in response to the glare of the blaster bolts, but that was the extent of his reaction. Sado smiled in approval. Virtually all of the high ranking Sith would have demanded that the droids be shut off immediately. "What brings you here during my training, General?" The Dark Lord asked as he spun back around, his saber moving rapidly the entire time.

"My Lord, I thought you would wish to know that our first long range probes have returned from the edge of the galaxy proper." Lael bowed, even as he continued batting blaster bolts aside.

"What have we learned from the probes?" Sado asked, spinning down into a roll that allowed him to cut the legs out from under two of the droids before returning to his feet.

"The Republic still does not extend throughout the entire galaxy." Lael reported what he thought was most important first. "Though it is considerably larger than when our ancestors fled, its authority weakens the farther away from Coruscant you are. Coruscant is still the capital, by the way."

"Enough of what's the same..." Sado had to stop speaking for a moment as he leapt into a Force powered backflip, coming down behind one of the double-speed droids, which he promptly cut in half. "What's changed in 5,200 years?"

"It's not the SAME Republic." Lael smiled under his mask.

"Elaborate." Sado said simply, as the droids' concentrated fire forced him to back up a few steps.

"The governing body currently calling itself the Galactic Republic was formed after the collapse of a 'Galactic Empire' ruled by one Darth Krayt, who considered himself a Sith Lord." Lael reported in a straightforward manner.

Sado staggered in surprise for the barest fraction of a second, but that was enough time for the droids to exploit, and the Dark Lord had to resort to a Force powered burst of speed to get away from the hail of blaster bolts. "How very interesting." Sado remarked dryly.

"It seems that for millenia now, the strongest practitioners of the dark side have referred to themselves as Sith Lords, regardless of species, though as yet we haven't discovered how this practice originated." Lael explained. "At any rate, Krayt's empire replaced the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances, which itself formed after the 'New Republic' was decimated by a race known as the Yuuzhan Vong."

"And who are the Yuuzhan Vong?" Sado asked even as he charged forward, having whittled the droids' numbers down to the point where he could fight at close range.

"A VERY interesting race that apparently exists outside the Force as we understand it. Their warriors are very strong, probably even stronger than our Massassi, and they think nothing of sacrificing their lives to complete their objective. In fact, since the race believes that their creator god, Yun Yuuzhan, brought the universe into being by sacrificing parts of his own body, it's considered a high honor to sacrifice one's life, and pain is a divine sensation to them."

"That's a very different viewpoint from ours." Sado observed as he spun into a ridiculously fast series of slashes that dismantled the last of the droids. "Pain is useful only when it results in anger, which strengthens our connection to the dark side." The Dark Lord deactivated his lightsaber and returned it to his belt. "At any rate, it sounds like even the Yuuzhan Vong were unable to conquer the galaxy."

"It is as you say, my Lord." Lael nodded. "After five years of war, their campaign collapsed from a series of problems, both internal and external. Most of the survivors migrated to a planet called Zonama Sekot. If our intelligence is accurate, Zonama Sekot is a unique world capable of traveling through hyperspace on its own."

Sado frowned and regarded Lael with suspicion. "That can't be right. Even with engines powerful enough to move a whole planet, how could you accelerate a garden world past light speed without blowing its atmosphere off?"

"Very carefully?" Lael suggested, and a small snort of laughter escaped from the Dark Lord. "Honestly, we don't know. That's why this is the first thing I told our analysts to focus on."

"If this planet does exist..." Sado looked thoughtful. "We may have just found our contingency plan."

"Sir?" Lael was genuinely surprised. "I thought our upcoming operations were going to be an 'all or nothing' kind of scenario."

An odd sort of half smile appeared on the Dark Lord's face, then he shook his head. "If we fail to reclaim our home territory, if the Republic defeats us again... it could truly mean the extinction of the Sith, if we have nowhere to fall back to. If we can't make the Republic surrender to our demands, destroying the _Legacy of Ragnos_ will undoubtedly be their foremost goal. However, if we could trade the _Ragnos_ for a colony that would be self-sustaining if we just park it in the habitable zone of any star we come across..."

"Then you'd have a base of operations for a guerilla war that could go on forever." Lael nodded. "I should have expected such devious thinking from you. It's just, with the way you've been talking lately, I thought you planned on going out in a blaze of glory if we fail."

"Oh, I certainly do." Sado nodded. "I want the Sith race to survive no matter what, but for me, the next month is going to give me everything. Or nothing."

Lael nodded again, a smile spreading across his face. "We've learned from the probes that Kalee is still safe and sound. The fate of my race does not depend on my actions one way or another. With that in mind, I agree completely. Everything or nothing."

.

"I can't live the buttoned down life like you! I want it all! The dizzying highs! The terrifying lows! The creamy middles! Oh sure, I may offend some of the floo-noses with my cocky stride and musky odors. I'll never be the darling of the so-called 'city fathers', who stroke their beards, cluck their tongues, and talk about 'What's to be done with this Homer Simpson?'!" - Homer Simpson, _The Simpsons_

.

(Nanaki's note: Seco was channeling Kent Brockman a bit in this chapter, ("I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Democracy simply doesn't work.") but his outrage at people who help to maintain a completely unsatisfactory status quo, often without realizing it, is most definitely my own. Meanwhile, as an example of how fast the Star Wars galaxy can change, two things I've mentioned in this story have been rendered potentially inaccurate by recent developments, so I'm going to address those items now:

1. In chapter 10, I mentioned that the Nikto were one of the species bound in permanent servitude to the Hutts. In Fate of the Jedi: Allies, another of those slave species, the Klatooinians, have apparently had enough of that crap. At the end of the book, which, it should be noted, failed to resolve ANY of its new plot points, (Why the hell is Vortex not coming out until December?) it appeared that the Treaty of Vontor was no more, and that the Klatooinians were done serving the Hutts. By extension, it would seem logical to assume that the Nikto and the other Hutt hangers-on would take this opportunity to get out as well, and that could well happen by the end of the series. However, I'm going to make the claim that in the intervening years, the Hutts have largely nullified this new independence with shady backroom wheeling and dealing. After all, it's much more their style to roll with the punches and look for new angles to exploit than to simply resist change with force. Or maybe the Nikto never did leave in the first place. This isn't exactly a story-breaking continuity problem, but I wanted to give it some thought, even so.

2. In chapter 5, Jerin mentioned that even Kuat's orbital shipyards weren't much compared to Mon Calamari. Then, in a recent issue of _Legacy_, the Sith completely wiped out all life on Mon Calamari. Exactly how, I don't know, since there's only one place within a hundred mile radius that carries _Legacy_, and it's usually sold out before I make a trip into town. However, I imagine it was similar to how the Yuuzhan Vong destroyed Ithor. I don't know if the shipyards were hit or not, but even if they were, I can't imagine them simply being abandoned with that much infrasctructure already in place. Even with Mon Calamari now a graveyard planet, I'm sure somebody bought the shipyards and put them to use even if the Mon Cals and Quarren didn't want to hang around the place anymore.

Finally, happy anniversary to my parents, who undoubtedly won't actually be reading this on their anniversary, since they're probably on Kauai right now. If not, I'm betting at least Hilo or Kohala. Anyway, I hope to have another chapter for you all before the end of the month, but I also just got Alpha Protocol, so we'll see...)


	14. Onward and Rimward

**Star Wars: Return of the Sith**

**14: Onward and Rimward**

By Nanaki

Kuat Drive Yards, Orbital Shipyard #12

"Korgo, can you hear me?" Seco demanded of his communicator. Well, it was actually Negian's communicator, since at some point during the duel, Dirk's lightsaber had apparently gone about halfway through Seco's, which was enough to make it stop working. It was also possible that it had actually been Jerin's lightsaber, but Seco refused to believe that Jerin had come that close to getting him. After several seconds of silence, Seco tried again. "Korgo! Are you there?"

"What?" The Hutt's gravelly voice finally demanded. Other voices could be heard in the background, shouting in Huttese. "I'm a little busy here, Seco."

"With the amount of time we spent fighting Skywalker, you should have been waiting here to pick us up! What's going on?" Seco asked, trying hard not to be insulting.

"Our engines are offline at the moment." Korgo explained, then said something else in his native language. A higher pitched voice could be heard answering in the background.

"You DID bring our ships with you, didn't you?" Seco glared at the communicator, and Negian was worried that he was squeezing it hard enough to break it.

"Of course. Unfortunately, there's no atmosphere in the hangar right now." Korgo sounded distracted as he relayed this information.

"So? Get some pilots in pressure suits and send them over to pick us up!" Seco had the feeling that there was more going on than he was being told.

"I need everyone working to keep the atmosphere from escaping the rest of the ship." Then, Korgo began to sound hesitant. "Also, both of your ships sustained some minor, I stress MINOR, damage when Jerin used sonic charges against us. Nothing to be too concerned about, but I wouldn't want to send them out until we have a chance to repair and test them."

An actual growl escaped from Seco's thoat. "Korgo, you are going to start our ships up right now, then send them to get us no matter what. We can get into pressure suits ourselves if necessary." Seco glanced around the deserted docking bay he and Negian were currently standing in the rear of, seeing at least two alcoves that would probably contain emergency pressure suits. "The Mando's ship is getting away with Tenn, who, you might recall, was the whole reason for this operation in the first place!"

"I'm sorry to report, your ships can't actually be started at the moment." Korgo responded.

"WHAT?" Seco roared. "Both ships contain classified military technology that wasn't easy to steal! If the ceiling on your karking Vic collapsed on them-"

"No! Not at all!" Korgo was quick to reassure him. "It's just that the power generators for several life support systems were damaged, so we had to yank the fuel cells from your-"

"Are you kidding me?" The veins throbbing on Seco's forehead were clearly visible to Negian. "We need to be chasing after Tenn NOW! You get our ships over here right away, and I don't give a kark how many of your grunts asphyxiate in the process!"

Negian snatched the communicator out of Seco's hand. "Hey, don't mind him, Korgo. He's just in a bad mood because Tenn got away from us again."

"Got away from YOU." Seco growled, but Negian ignored him.

"Of course, see to the safety of your crew first. Once you're capable of moving again, you'll find us waiting patiently in bay L-12. See you soon." Negian switched off the communicator.

"Great." Seco turned to look at the door that led back to the rest of the station. "So now we'll probably have to fight Lucia too before we can get out of here."

Negian shook his head. "I don't think so. You can feel Dirk's presence in the Force, can't you?"

"Yeah, but Lucia is still hidden, so what does that matter?" Seco frowned.

"Think about it." Negian smiled. "If we can sense Dirk, that means he either WANTS us to know where he is, which I doubt is the case this time, or he's unconscious. That means Lucia is going to head straight for him, which probably buys us some time."

Seco looked doubtful. "But if he doesn't need immediate medical attention, she'll probably track us down first thing, to get revenge. And don't tell me that she won't do that because she's a Jedi. That queen witch has more of an anger problem than we do."

Negian just shook his head. "If you really think she'd do that, then you don't know as much about women as you think, buddy." Seco looked like he was biting his tongue to keep from retorting. "Why don't you leave the interpretation to the one who's actually HAD a serious girlfriend?"

"And LOST her because you always assumed you knew what was best." Seco snapped.

Negian raised an eyebrow. "Well, I know you're frustrated right now, so I'm gonna let that one go." He let out a sigh through his nose. "But if you ever talk about Tenn that way again, you better be ready to find out which one of us is the TRUE Dark Lord." Negian glared at Seco for a second, before his usual smile returned to his face. "Anyway, until Korgo gets here, I'm gonna have a nap." With that, he sat down on the cold metal floor and stretched out, hands under his head.

Seco regarded his friend warily for several seconds before sitting down against the wall himself. Despite the smile, he knew that Negian hadn't been kidding. Not entirely, anyway, and that did nothing to help his mood.

.

"Dirk, did you have to hide in the most inaccessible place you could find?" Lucia complained aloud. She could feel Dirk very close by now, probably within a few hundred feet, but she couldn't see a clear way to get to him. This area of the station was clearly off limits to everyone but the maintenance people unfortunate enough to have to work here, and it wasn't terribly well lit. However, the occasional scoring from lightsaber blades on the walls, and even the floor, would have told her she was heading the right way even if she couldn't sense Dirk. Unfortunately, the fact that she could sense him was a bad sign. His presence in the Force also seemed to have gotten stronger since she'd first landed on the station, which probably meant that he'd been injured and had gone into a healing trance.

Finally, Lucia came across a heavy metal door that had once been shut by a keypad lock, but which had recently been melted open by a lightsaber. Water was steadily running under the bottom of the door, slowly disappearing through various grates in the floor that water probably wasn't supposed to go into. It looked like the Jedi Order was going to be sending some credits to Kuat Drive Yards to cover repair costs in the not too distant future. Lucia had a hard time shouldering the door open against the sudden onslaught of water struggling to hold it in place, and once she got it open, she frowned as she started sweating almost immediately. It had to be close to one hundred twenty degrees in here, and she guessed that the humidity was somewhere around eight hundred percent. Basically, it was like being close to the equator on Teth.

She did her best to hurry through the ankle deep water in the darkness, finally igniting her blue lightsaber when she got too far away from the weak light spilling in through the door. At last she caught sight of Dirk, who was slumped over a large block of concrete that supported a relatively small two hundred gallon water tank. He didn't move as Lucia held her lightsaber close to get a good look at him, and didn't make a sound as she used the Force to gently lay him down on the floor. Blood was trickling out of both his mouth and nose, having trouble clotting because of the extreme humidity in the room, while there was a huge bruise covering the right side of his face. "Oh Dirk..." She ran her right hand along his jaw, smiling at the familiar feel of the neatly trimmed beard that she kept bugging him to shave off. "How could you let them do this to you?"

Even as she asked the question, Lucia already had a pretty good idea of the answer. There was nothing that indicated Dirk had been so much as grazed by a lightsaber. It was Lucia's guess that Seco and Negian had actually taken advantage of Dirk's overwhelming superiority in lightsaber combat to lull him into a false sense of security, then surprise him in another fashion. Whatever that might have been, exactly, it was clear that his face had met the wall at a high speed. At any rate, Dirk was now deep in a healing trance, though Lucia wasn't sure why. He had his fair share of fractured bones, but nothing seemed damaged to the point that he would have needed to slip into a trance right away. However, Lucia estimated that he'd already been in the trance for close to a half hour. It was possible that there had been some internal bleeding. If that was the case, it would make more sense.

The entire Skywalker/Solo extended family had been very wary of internal bleeding ever since Anakin Solo had died from an amphistaff strike that had punctured his intestines. The general consensus was that he would have been just fine if he had actually been able to enter a healing trance, but since he'd been on a Yuuzhan Vong worldship at the time, as the leader of a strike team that was trying to destroy a new bio-weapon capable of wiping out the Jedi, Anakin had steadfastly refused to enter a trance and endanger the rest of the team. Fortunately for Dirk, a healing trance that would take several days for anyone else would only take a few hours for him, thanks to the incredible healing powers that all descendants of Cade Skywalker seemed to possess. Even so, right now that was several hours more than they could afford.

"I shouldn't have talked you into splitting up." Lucia sighed. Even though it had quickly become clear when they arrived at Kuat that they had two objectives, Dirk had wanted them to stick together, arguing that a sure thing on one of two objectives was better than gambling on both. Lucia, who had done more than a little gambling in her time, had responded that she'd bet everything on the two of them every time, no matter what the odds were. Then Dirk, as he almost always did, agreed to try it her way. Unfortunately, they'd lost the bet this time. Now the Mandalorian had gotten away with Tenn again, even if it was at least partly her choice, and Seco and Negian were still running around free. Reaching out in the Force, Lucia could sense that Seco and Negian were still on the station... but somehow each of them were in four different places. Well, she wasn't about to go chasing after them like this, not with Dirk in need of medical attention. "All right, tough guy..." She stood up, then used the Force to gently lift Dirk into the air, hovering him at about waist height. "Let's get you to a doctor."

.

In the Colonies Region, Close to the Foundry System

As the _Sword of Justice_ continued to barrel through hyperspace at an utterly ridiculous pace, Jerin pored over regional and galactic maps of various scales at his console. Due to the large number of scantily clad young ladies he had on board, combined with the fact that he had accidentally kicked the air conditioning up to full blast during the battle, he had turned the heat way up throughout the ship, and was now regretting it. Jerin had already unbuckled his torso armor and put it away in his room, but he was still sweating a lot more than he would have liked.

They were currently about an hour away from Commenor, and Jerin had already accepted that they would have to stop there for supplies, mainly food and water. He did not have enough food on board to feed thirty nine people, that was for sure. Hell, he barely would have had enough left to feed himself. Also, though the thought made him cringe whenever it entered his head, Jerin knew that he would have to be a jerk of the highest order not to buy SOME clothes for the girls. He had originally planned to get around that necessity by making a mad dash for Coruscant as soon as they left Kuat, but that was no longer an option. Having once been married, Jerin was well aware of how long it took ONE woman to shop for clothes. He could only imagine how long it was going to take thirty six, from three different species no less, to all pick out something they liked. He estimated that they would be on Commenor for at least six hours, which would give Korgo and the Sith plenty of time to catch up, but there was no real way around it. At least that would be enough time to have larger water and sewage tanks installed.

The only way out of it that Jerin could think of was to just dump the girls on Commenor and hightail it out of there. However, they were still way too close to Kuat to do that. Negian would be able to sense that they'd stopped on Commenor, and Korgo would be at the planet before the girls had any time to disperse, not that they likely WOULD disperse in any event. Jerin knew that if he suddenly found himself dumped on a strange world with no money, no prospects for a job, and no proof of having finished school, he would sure as hell stick close to the only people he knew. No, the girls were going to have to stay on board until he found somewhere with the necessary social services to take good care of them, and somewhere that was a decent distance from both Hutt Space and Coruscant on top of that. 'But where is that place?' He wondered as he continued to stare at the galactic map in front of him.

"What are you looking for?" Tenn wondered as she walked back into the cockpit, having just used the fresher in the room across the hallway from Jerin's. She had been surprised to see that most of the eight women crammed into the room were asleep, despite everything that had been going on. But then, they had been woken up in the middle of their night, and they were probably used to not being in control of what happened to them in any event.

"A good place to leave the girls." Jerin responded, not taking his eyes off the map.

Tenn's brow furrowed slightly in confusion. "I would think Corellia would be the clear choice, if you don't want to go to Coruscant. Corellia's actually closer from here anyway, isn't it?"

"It's because Corellia is the clear choice that I'm ruling it out." Jerin explained. "It's also TOO close. Korgo could theoretically get there only a few hours after we do."

"Even if he did, the Corellians aren't exactly the type to just let outsiders do what they want on their worlds. Besides, there's a Jedi Academy on Corellia, so Seco and Negian will want to avoid it if at all possible." Tenn reasoned.

Jerin just shook his head slightly. "Money talks on Corellia, even moreso than on Coruscant, and Korgo has already shown that he's willing to spend a lot to get his hands on the girls. Plus, if I were Seco or Negian, and I wanted something on Corellia, I'd just head to Talus or Tralus and wait for an opportune moment."

"I think you're underestimating the Jedi, but what are you thinking of, in that case?" Tenn wondered.

Jerin gave the map a final once over, before answering. "I'm thinking about Eriadu."

"Eriadu?" Tenn clearly hadn't considered that. "Even in this ship, it'll take the better part of two days to get to Eriadu." She pointed out.

"That's the main reason I want to head there." Jerin nodded. "We need to drop the girls off somewhere where the _Justice_ can be long gone by the time the bad guys get there. That way, Seco and Negian would probably want to skip it entirely to keep chasing you, while Korgo would want to let you go in favor of the more profitable catch." Now Jerin finally looked up from the map. "Also, that somewhere needs to have the necessary social services, combined with competent local law enforcement. Since Eriadu likes to bill itself as 'a Core world in the rim', I think it would do nicely."

Tenn couldn't find a flaw in that reasoning, but there was still something that bothered her. "The thing that gives me pause is, Eriadu was a staunch supporter of both Palpatine and Krayt's empires, and they still have a reputation for human supremacist ideology."

Jerin shrugged. "There still might be the occasional politician who talks that way, but Eriadu is a loooong way from any other human-dominated world. If they were really as intolerant as you seem to think, most of the humans there would have packed up and moved back to the Core long ago." Now, a lopsided grin appeared on his face. "Besides, I've found that if you're going to be a minority, it's better to be a member of a very small minority group than a large one. A large minorty is an unwelcome competitor, a tiny minority is a curiousity."

Tenn let out a soft sigh. "All right. You're in charge, after all. I just hope everything works out all right."

"Well, so do I." Jerin agreed, then stood up. "But, first thing's first. We're going to be landing on Commenor, and I need to talk to everyone about what's going to happen when we do. So, I need everyone to assemble down in the cargo bay."

"Most of them are still asleep." Tenn observed, turning to look down the hallway.

"I know." Jerin nodded and stretched. "That's why I'm going to need your help if we're going to get everyone in the same place before we land."

For some reason, Tenn found the fact that he needed her help surprisingly gratifying, even if it was for something simple. "All right then." She stood up as well.

As they were heading out of the cockpit, the door to Jerin's room whooshed open to reveal Denan. He'd just finished having a sanisteam, and his hair was still wet. "Hey, you too." Jerin stated simply, clapping Denan on the back.

"What's up?" Denan wondered.

"Start waking up the girls and tell them to meet up down in the cargo bay. Before we get to Commenor, we need to go over a few ground rules..."

.

"It's ideas like this that get people killed!" - Faye Valentine, _Cowboy Bebop_

.

(Nanaki's note: So, here's a lesson on the importance of doing research. I finally got off my lazy butt and looked up the _Marauder_ missile frigate on Wookiepedia, which it turns out is actually called the _Marauder_-class corvette. Turns out, it's a small capital ship, about 195 meters long, which is about five times bigger than I imagined Jerin's ship being. In addition, a ship that size would definitely have an actual bridge, and not just a cockpit. However, just as I was thinking I might have to do something bizarre, like claiming Jerin misidentified his own ship, (Which would be pretty unlikely for a Mandalorian.) the article gave me an out by listing several continuity errors where the _Marauder_ made a cameo appearance in comics, but was drawn way too small. So, here's my in-universe explanation: Republic Sienar Systems, and later the Corporate Sector Authority, made several different classes of ships with the basic _Marauder_ hull shape, including a starfighter, a light cruiser (Jerin's), and a corvette. And here's my out-of-universe explanation: I'm a lazy bum.)


	15. Ground Rules

**Star Wars: Return of the Sith**

**15: Ground Rules**

By Nanaki

In the Colonies Region, Nearing Commenor

Jerin waited patiently as the girls filed through the narrow staircase into the cargo bay. The bay took up the lower two thirds of the ship's main cylinder, and was fairly roomy right now, since Jerin wasn't carrying any cargo. The walls were completely lined with missile racks of various sizes, though most of these were empty at the moment. Toward the front, beneath the cockpit, flat cargo platforms rested on top of the main water and sewage tanks. Jerin was sitting on one of these, with what he hoped was a friendly smile on his face.

The ladies seemed to automatically group themselves by species as they entered, with the three humans close to the platform on Jerin's left, the five Zeltrons leaning against the missile racks on his right, and the Twi'leks taking up everywhere else. Finally, the cargo elevator next to the staircase opened up, and Joona hovered into the bay, with Tenn and Denan following a second later. Tenn spotted a missile rack with just one Supernova resting in it, on the lowest rung, and she gently set Joona down on top of the missile. Jerin noticed that there was absolutely none of the whispering or quiet giggling that he would have expected. Even though they were probably being quiet for all the wrong reasons, at the moment, he appreciated it.

"All right, is everyone here?" Jerin asked, finding that he didn't need to raise his voice much in the quiet bay. He did a quick head count, and arrived at thirty six just as Tenn nodded at him. "Okay then, there are a few things to go over before we get to Commenor. First off, I want to emphasize that everyone is free to leave any time they want to." There was a noticeable intake of breath from just about everyone at this, but that was the extent of their reaction. "However, I strongly recommend that you all stick with the plan I've come up with. We're going to be heading down to Eriadu before I drop you off with the appropriate government agency there. I was planning on taking you all to Coruscant, but since I know that Korgo the Hutt wants to get his hands on you, and he's based on Coruscant, that doesn't seem like a real smart plan. I needed a place where I could be long gone before Korgo could get there, where you could have your tracking devices removed before Korgo or Gadran could get there, and where the local law enforcement would be up to the task of protecting you. Ideally, that place would also be far from Hutt Space, and Eriadu seemed like the best choice." Jerin paused to take a breath.

"Which brings us to the reason we're stopping on Commenor. The trip to Eriadu will take the better part of two days, and there's barely enough food and water left on board to cover ME for that long, never mind all of you. So, here's what's gonna happen: While I'm stocking up on the basics, you're all going to go shopping for some new clothes. CHEAP clothes," Jerin was quick to add, "but new. Then, get something to eat, and we'll take off again." Most of the girls were looking at him with a combination of surprise and puzzlement now. "Any questions?" Jerin raised an eyebrow, a bit puzzled by their unnatural silence. One of the human women to his left raised her hand. "Oh, you don't actually have to raise your hand... But anyway, go ahead." He gestured.

"Well, I don't want to sound ungrateful, but what exactly do you get out of this?" She asked calmly. Jerin noticed that her voice didn't sound particularly cold or angry. It just seemed that she didn't like waiting for the other shoe to drop, so she wanted to go ahead and make it drop right now. Several of the Twi'lek women were looking at her like they couldn't believe she'd dared to ask such a question.

"That's the first question I would have asked too." Jerin smiled and nodded in approval. "The good news is, I've already gotten what I wanted: revenge." His grin broadened, knowing that Gadran had probably found out the girls were missing by now. "The short version of the story is: I hate Gadran the Hutt with every fiber of my being, and I can't wait to kill him. Until that day comes, though, I make his life miserable every chance I get. Setting all of you free was just my latest chance to do that." Now Jerin looked toward the back of the cargo bay. "However, though I admit that helping you wasn't my main motivation, I still realize that everyone needs to eat, and no one should have to walk around mostly naked. Well, unless that's what you want." He nodded at the Zeltrons, but four of the five just stared blankly back. The shortest of the bunch did wink and flash a small smile his way, at least. "So, that's the reason for the stopover on Commenor." He explained, then glanced at the chrono on his left wrist. "All right, we're going to be landing in about fifteen minutes, so I need to go get ready. Oh, one other thing." Jerin suddenly remembered. "I am absolutely terrible with names, so if I can't seem to remember your name, it's not because I'm not trying. My brain just doesn't seem to be wired to work that way. Anyway, if anyone needs to use the fresher, go now." Jerin gestured, and the girls started to head back upstairs.

"Jerin, are you coming?" Joona called as Tenn hovered her back to the cargo elevator.

"In a minute." Jerin waved back, then he stretched out on the cargo platform. 'All right Jerin, think.' He told himself sternly. 'Rodians... no, Givin. Ongree. Old Hutts. REALLY old Hutts. Gadran in a swimsuit!' "Okay, good to go." Jerin said out loud, then he hopped down to the floor. He was going to be relieved when the girls got their new clothes, all right. It would help keep his eyes from wandering, anyway.

.

Tenn frowned a bit in concern as Joona emerged from the fresher, hopping on her right leg, with her arms outstretched for balance. "Is that leg still causing you pain, even with the bacta patch?" Tenn asked quickly.

"Only if I put weight on it." Joona answered. "I'll be fine, really."

Tenn shook her head. "If you need to run again, I want you to be able to. You better let me take another look." She gestured toward the cockpit. Since it wasn't far, and she would have a wall to lean against the whole way, Joona started hopping in that direction.

"What more can we do right now?" Joona wondered, hopping back toward her seat in the cockpit.

"I may be able to speed the healing process up a bit." Tenn explained.

"Even more than bacta?" Joona raised an eyebrow as she sank back into her seat.

"I hope so." Tenn answered honestly, then she sat down on the cold metal floor. She very lightly ran her fingertips along Joona's calf muscles, over the bacta patch, then closed her eyes in concentration. Joona felt a sudden warmth flowing into her leg, and she looked down to see that Tenn's fingertips were glowing.

"What... what's happening?" Joona wondered quietly. Her knowledge of Force powers was limited at best, but she had never heard of a Jedi healer GLOWING while using their powers.

"It's nothing to be alarmed about." Tenn reassured her. "Although I may pass out when I'm finished. If that happens, don't be concerned."

"I take it that's happened before, then." Joona surmised.

"Yes." Tenn nodded, not taking her eyes off of Joona's leg. "I never learned how to properly use my healing abilities, so I kind of have to... force it."

A faintly amused look appeared on Joona's face. "Was that a pun?"

"I guess so." Tenn sounded like she had just realized it herself. "An accidental pun, but that makes it more bearable." She smiled. The glow from her fingertips seemed to be getting brighter, and the warmth in Joona's leg felt like it was intensifying. It wasn't uncomfortable at all, though. If anything, the warmth produced a similar sensation to scratching an itch. Joona guessed that the Force was somehow "scratching" the itch that was the slice in her leg. For the next thirty seconds or so, Tenn barely moved, only adjusting the position of her fingers now and then. Suddenly, the warmth in Joona's leg seemed to disappear, and Tenn slumped forward, then started to tip over to the side.

Joona quickly reached down and caught her by the shoulders. "Tenn, you okay?" She asked calmly, since she had been told to expect this.

"I... be a'right." Tenn mumbled, then her eyelids fluttered and she shook her head a few times. "I'll be okay." She said more clearly. She sat up straighter, then stretched out and leaned back on her elbows. "Whew, that wasn't too bad." She said, then took a deep breath.

"It wasn't?" Joona was surprised.

"Nope." A slight smile reappeared on Tenn's face. "There was one time when I had to heal a blaster shot in my boyfriend's chest, and I mean I HAD to, or he would have died. When I was finished with that one, I was unconscious for about three hours."

"Wow." Joona winced in sympathy. "Jerin survived a direct shot to the chest?"

"No! Not him!" Tenn said so forcefully that Joona sat back in her seat in surprise. "Although I wouldn't be surprised if he had." Tenn continued in a softer tone. "I get the feeling that shooting Jerin would just make him mad."

"I know what you mean." Joona nodded. "But if not Jerin, who were you talking about?"

"Negian," was on the tip of Tenn's tongue, but she stopped herself before she said it out loud. If Jerin heard about that, she would pretty much have to fill him in on all the details of her past with Negian. Plus, everything she knew about Seco, and the Skywalkers, and Master Rondo, and her own parents... No, she wasn't ready for that yet. "It doesn't matter anymore." She told Joona. "But what made you think Jerin and I were together, anyway?"

"I dunno." Joona shrugged. "You two argue like my parents used to. Like two people who've been together for a long time, in other words."

"Huh," was all Tenn said as she thought about that for a second. "No, I just met him a few days ago. I guess we're just really good at annoying each other."

"If you say so," Joona said in the most neutral tone she could manage.

"Anyway," Tenn was clearly eager to change the subject, "How does your leg feel now?"

Joona experimentally flexed it, just a bit. When that didn't hurt, she wiggled her left foot around, then raised it up off the floor. There was still a dull ache, but that was a vast improvement over the sharp pain that had been present until now. It felt like the injury was at least several days old, not brand new. "Great," Joona said, sounding mildly astonished.

"Feel like you could take off at a sprint again if you needed to?" Tenn asked.

"Probably." Joona nodded, wiggling her left foot again.

"Feel like you could kick a dark sider in the crotch again if you needed to?" Tenn raised an eyebrow.

"Definitely." Joona smiled. "Do you think that's likely to come up again?"

"Definitely." Tenn nodded. "Though hopefully not until we've gotten all of you off of the ship."

Joona had a dozen different questions she wanted to ask now. Why was Tenn so sure they'd see the dark siders again? What was her relationship to them, anyway? Why wasn't she with the Jedi anymore, if she had been in the past? How had she and Jerin met? Ultimately, Joona kept quiet and decided that it wasn't any of her business. Not yet, anyway.

.

Above Kuat

Seco and Negian were standing in the main hangar bay of Korgo's _Victory_ class Star Destroyer, which the Hutt had named the _Pride of Besadii_, which seemed kind of ironic now, since the battered ship didn't look like anything to be proud of. The bay had been repressurized, though chunks of the ceiling had rained down when Jerin's sonic charges had hit the ship, and the floor was covered with rubble. Seco and Negian had navigated that mess easily enough, hopping from the top of one pile to another until they stood at the noses of their ships. While not identical, the two ships had a lot in common. Both were roughly fifty feet long, with the vast majority of the interiors being devoted to firepower, rather than comfortable living. Both were triangular in shape, with a pointed nose, and the widest area of the ship back at the engines. Both had also suffered similar damage, being virtually unharmed except for the experimental military sensor suites attached to the noses, which had both been crushed by the crumbling ceiling. To no one's surprise, Seco was fuming.

"Here's something else I can't believe you talked me into!" Seco grumbled as he kicked the ruined sensors of his ship, the _Parang_. Both he and Negian had named their ships after ancient bladed weapons that Force users had wielded before lightsabers were invented. In the case of the parang, the Lost Tribe of the Sith on Kesh had continued to use it even after lightsabers were invented, liking the way the glass blade had a tendency to break in an opponent's flesh. "You're the one who said we shouldn't encase the sensors in armor, since they'd have a smaller profile without it!"

"And I was right." Negian shrugged. "They weren't damaged by enemy fire, after all, and the ships' stock sensor packages are still intact." He fondly patted the nose of his vessel, the _Scimitar_. "Along with the rest of them. We don't need the sensors for this mission, anyway. I'M the sensor." Seco continued to glare at him. "Besides, I know that's not what's really bothering you, anyway."

"There's a LOT bothering me." Seco snapped.

"That's always true." Negian observed calmly. "But be honest Seco. You're really angry because we lost."

"No we didn't!" Seco snarled. "We sent Dirk crawling back to the Jedi with his tail between his legs."

"Dirk wasn't our enemy." Negian replied bluntly. "And we only managed to defeat him after trying for damn near an hour, fighting two against one on top of that. Hardly an inspiring victory." Negian shook his head. "I know you're really mad because we lost to Jerin. Again."

"Again? What 'again' are you talking about?" Seco demanded. "He was able to run away the first time because Lucia showed up out of nowhere, and he got away the second time because DIRK showed up out of nowhere!"

"No." Negian shook his head again. "He got away the second time because he beat you one on one, pure and simple. Just like Tenn beat me." Negian quickly added when Seco looked like he was about to draw his lightsaber. "Besides, the details don't matter. The simple fact is, both times we fought Jerin, we planned to kill him, and he's still alive. We've clearly been underestimating our adversary."

"Why is he letting Tenn stay on his ship, anyway?" Seco turned away from Negian, to resume glaring at the smashed sensors on his ship. "It should be obvious by now that he's not going to get any money from holding onto her."

"I doubt that money is his motivation anymore." Negian observed. "As for why he still wants her to stick around, even so, that should be fairly obvious."

"What are you talking about?" Seco demanded.

Negian turned away from his ship, a knowing look in his eyes. "Seco, don't pretend that you didn't want her too, back when we were all Padawans together."

Seco's hand did go the hilt of his lightsaber now. "You are in dangerous territory, my friend. Would you just explain what you mean, already?"

"You really want me to say it out loud?" Negian let out an exasperated snort. "Fine then. Tenn is insanely beautiful, she's actually nice to just about everybody, and her strength in the Force is virtually unprecedented. Plus, she acts shy and vulnerable until she gets to know someone, but then she turns into a total smartass." Negian couldn't help but smile as he described her. "That's pretty much the most appealing combination of personality traits imaginable, at least in my book. It's easy to see why any sane man would want her around."

"Don't tell me Danar thinks he actually has a shot." A derisive chuckle could be heard from Seco's direction.

"I doubt he's thinking along those lines either, at least not so soon." Seco noticed that there seemed to be some relief in Negian's voice at this observation. "But we really don't know much about him, which is another form of underestimating our enemy."

"Ah, I see what you did there." A smile finally appeared on Seco's face. "So how do you suggest that we stop underestimating our enemy?"

"First off, we need to fight him together next time we meet, much as we might feel he's unworthy of it." Negian pointed out. "Second, I think we ought to approach the fight the same way we'd fight a Jedi, even though he isn't one. His limited Force powers, combined with his armor, make him a formidable opponent even so." Seco reluctantly nodded in agreement. "Finally, we need to take him out before we try to capture Tenn or anyone else, UNLESS we're sure that we can get away before Jerin can catch up to us."

"Or before you get kicked in the crotch by a Hutt harem girl." Seco laughed.

"I don't know WHAT that was about." Negian frowned in confusion, and Seco laughed harder.

"So anyway, you want to handle him basically the same way we fought Dirk." Seco calmed down enough to say. "I suppose that makes sense, infuriating though it might be to think it would take both of us to beat him." Now Seco's smile disappeared. "We also need to hurry. If Tenn hasn't called her father for help yet, she will soon." Negian was slowly shaking his head now. "What?"

"You don't know her like I do." Negian said calmly. "I'm not saying that to be smug, it's just the truth. I think she's too ashamed of her current condition to face her family."

"But, it's not even her fault." Seco frowned in confusion. "I mean, it's REALLY not her fault! She had nothing to do with it."

"I know." Negian shrugged. "But she seems to feel responsible anyway."

"Negian..." Seco's voice took on a grave tone. "If she can't even forgive HERSELF for this, do really think she'll ever forgive you?" He wasn't asking to be mean, but because he thought this was something Negian really needed to consider.

"That's the strangest part." Negian answered softly. "I think she already has."

"You're on spice." Seco said bluntly.

"You're on deathsticks." Negian shot back. "Anyway, we need to go brainstorm our next plan of attack with Korgo. Because if Jerin can get away from an entire task force once, he can do it again."

"Most likely. But then again, we weren't there when he got away." Seco's smile returned. "I have a feeling that next time, the outcome will be quite different."

"I hope so." Negian agreed as they began hopping back from the top of one pile of rubble to another. "Because this is getting old."

.

"Frankly, we've been too cocky. We go into battle just assuming we'll win, and we haven't been doing that a lot lately." - Speed Fiora, _Destiny of an Emperor_

.

(Nanaki's note: Sorry I kept you waiting for two months, but I doubt it'll happen again. Oddly, whenever I'm close to getting started on the "next part" of a story, I often have trouble getting the motivation to finish the part I'm wrapping up, which ironically delays the story. Anyway, the first act of this story is pretty much wrapped up now, so that "next part" should be arriving soon. On another note, I just finished reading The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance, which is quite possibly my favorite Star Wars novel ever. Now, I'm not saying it's the best ever. The Revenge of the Sith novel will probably always hold that spot in my mind, but Fatal Alliance was both fun and mind-blowing in every way that counts. It's got a lot of characters reminiscent of those in the original trilogy, without being obvious and unoriginal about it. It's got a TON of action, plus an interesting Terminator/Matrix aspect that I won't go into detail about because I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't read it yet. But if you haven't read it yet, what are you doing reading this? The Mandalorian in Fatal Alliance makes Boba Fett look like a wuss, (Yes, you read that right.) and I'm half-in love with Larin already. Best of all, it's clear that most of these characters will be back in the next installment. Seriously, if you haven't read it yet, get started right now. You won't be sorry.)


	16. What the Girls Think

**Star Wars: Return of the Sith**

**16: What the Girls Think**

By Nanaki

Commenor

Joona took a deep breath as she stepped out into the bright sunlight of Commenor, savoring the first scent of an actual planetary atmosphere she'd had in seven years. True, the air on the Kuat shipyards hadn't been too bad; the shipyards were enormous, and there was plenty of circulation. Even so, there was something about outside air carried by a fresh breeze that just couldn't be replicated on a space station, no matter how well ventilated it was. The only odd thing about the air was the intense humidity. Coming from a desert world where the humidity rarely rose above twenty percent on the surface, Joona found that the moisture in the air on the tropical island that Jerin had set them down on bordered on oppressive. She wasn't sure whether she was supposed to breathe the air or drink it. However, she quickly shrugged that off, since the air was also filled with a distinctly sweet aroma, even on a landing pad at the spaceport.

Joona raised an eyebrow as the three human women first kneeled down, then actually kissed the pavement. She turned toward where Denan and Jerin were standing at the base of the _Justice's_ boarding ramp, but they didn't seem to think this behavior was anything noteworthy. Joona shrugged, assuming that this was yet another of the many, many odd things humans did that they didn't think was odd enough to bother explaining. Most of the women of all three races were shrugging out of their blankets, as it was plenty warm in the bright sunlight.

Looking up at the sky, Joona saw that the low mountains that surrounded them on three sides were entirely covered by trees with broad leaves. Tall clouds hovered to the north, looking like they would start to dump rain any second. To the south, the pavement of the spaceport gradually sloped downward, to where a sliver of ocean was visible in the distance. Directly overhead, a trio of brightly colored avian creatures squawked loudly as they flew past.

"All right, here's what's gonna happen!" Jerin called out as he walked into the center of the group. He had shed his armor in favor of a loose long sleeved shirt and pants, but even so, Joona could still see beads of sweat running down his neck. "There's no speeder I could rent that would be able to carry all of you, so we're going to have to rely on..." He paused to shudder theatrically, "Public transportation. Fortunately, we don't have far to go from here to one of this island's main shopping centers. While you're busy picking out clothes, I'm going to be busy restocking the ship, so Tenn will be carrying a credcard to take care of everything. You'll have a two hundred credit limit to work with, so..." Jerin paused at the sudden intake of breath from many of the girls. "Something wrong?" He raised an eyebrow.

Joona found a whole lot of heads suddenly turned in her direction. 'Oh, so if there's complaining to be done, I'm the spokeswoman, huh?' An expression that was halfway between a smile and a frown appeared on her face. 'Nula, you LOVE complaining! What about you?' She wondered, but no one else was speaking up. Oh well, she probably was closer to Jerin than anyone else, albeit in an odd way, so it would probably sound less whiny coming from her. "Um..." Joona paused to clear her throat. "Even if we stick to the cheapest stuff, I don't think we'll be able to get clothes for all thirty six of us with just two hundred credits."

"Ah." Joona was relieved to see a wry grin appear on Jerin's face. "I didn't mean two hundred credits total, I meant two hundred credits EACH."

Joona felt her jaw drop, and noticed that hers wasn't the only one. She doubted that her parents had spent two hundred credits on clothes for her during the whole thirteen years she had lived at home. Plus, as the oldest of six kids, she had been the lucky one, actually getting to wear NEW clothes. Her little sisters were stuck with Joona's hand-me-downs, which grew progressively more faded and full of sewn up holes with each sister, until they were little more than rags draped over the youngest of the brood. Not for the first time, Joona found herself hoping that her father had gotten enough money from selling her to at least allow the rest of her family to live comfortably. Also not for the first time, she found herself hoping that her father had been killed in a violent speeder accident as soon as he had deposited the money in the family's savings account. After all, if you were willing to do something as morally reprehensible as selling your own daughter into slavery, you had a lot of other options. Dealing spice, for one, or maybe robbing banks. Hell, smuggling was a time honored tradition in the Outer Rim, and...

Joona shook her head as she realized she wasn't paying attention to what Jerin was saying. Now definitely wasn't the time to think about the past at any rate. For the first time in a long time, she was looking forward to the future. "-enough to make 'em last for a while." Jerin was saying. "After all, it'll probably be a while before you see your first paycheck, no matter what you end up doing. But anyway, I'm done telling you what to do for now. In case there's any trouble, Denan, Tenn, and..." He pulled a small device from the utility belt around his waist and tossed it to Joona. Her catch wasn't graceful, but she managed to keep it from hitting the pavement. "-Joona have communicators. Though hopefully there won't be any trouble. I should have done enough damage to Korgo's ship to keep him from getting here before we can take off again." Jerin flashed a toothy grin. "At any rate, I better get to work. See you soon." He waved as he walked back up the boarding ramp.

The disorganized clump of girls was still marching across the tarmac when a high pitched whine could be heard coming from the back of the _Justice_. Turning back to look, Joona saw Jerin racing through the air on the back of the coolest looking speeder bike she had ever seen. He did a couple barrel rolls as he passed overhead, which she had always been told was extremely dangerous, then banked around and blasted toward the north end of the spaceport, vanishing into a speck in the distance in just a few seconds. "Show off." Joona heard Tenn complain under her breath, though there seemed to be a slight hint of affection in Tenn's voice as well.

.

Fifteen minutes later, having taken the spaceport shuttle to the main entrance of the facility, the ladies waited for a public speeder to stop by. The general pecking order from the brothel had reestablished itself in terms of who got to sit on the benches under the small sun shade at the stop, so the younger girls found themselves standing out under the sun, not that fourteen year old Rayna Moneta minded a whole lot. Unlike most inhabitants of Ryloth, who lived in the "twilight band" of the planet that was most comfortable, her family lived on the edge of the "bright lands", where the sun shone all the time, though thankfully low on the horizon. Still, the temperature was almost always above one hundred ten degrees, even on the rare occasions when it was cloudy, and Rayna had never felt warm enough at Kuat Drive Yards. She woke up with cold extremities and a runny nose most mornings. Right now, the sunlight felt wonderful, even if the humid air took some getting used to.

Rayna was standing slightly apart from the others, in a small cluster formed of herself and four other thirteen and fourteen year old Twi'leks. They had all arrived at the brothel within a few weeks of each other between two and three months ago, and had basically formed their own support group. After they had observed how some of the women at the brothel liked to get their way by telling extremely one sided versions of events to the shift bosses, versions that were believed only because of seniority, the five of them had agreed not to try to make their own lives easier at the expense of the others. They also did their best to back each other up during any confrontations with the older ladies, which usually didn't help at all, but they still tried. Fortunately, their informal support pact had come to Joona's notice. Unlike the five newbies, Joona's opinions carried serious weight with the shift bosses, and she did what she could to make their lives easier.

Of the five, Rayna had initially needed the most help, as she attracted the most business. While she wasn't the most attractive of the five, at least in her own eyes, nature had dealt her an unlucky hand in terms of coloration. Two of the girls in their group were blue, and the other two were green, both nice, common colors. Rayna, on the other hand, was a rather unique shade somewhere between light orange and dark yellow. Combined with the bright purple color of her eyes, she attracted a lot of attention. However, just like everyone else, Rayna had eventually grown tired of crying herself to sleep every night, and she viewed the beautiful landscape before her now the same way she viewed everything else: with a healthy dose of cynicism.

"So..." Nina, the blue girl to Rayna's right, spoke aloud for the first time since Jerin had busted them out of the brothel. "What do you all think?" It sounded like a simple question, but Rayna knew what she was really asking. If they were going to make a run for it, some point within the next few hours would be the best time.

"I didn't know what to think at first." Rayna shrugged. "But now that he's shown he's actually willing to leave us alone," She looked toward the towering thunderheads in the north, the direction Jerin had flown off to, "I think we can trust him."

"He didn't leave us alone completely." Nina nodded toward where Denan and Tenn were standing at the curb, within a few paces of each other. Both were looking up and down the street, continually scanning for trouble.

"Denan?" Rayna snorted with laughter. "There's no way he could stop all five of us together. Hell, Joona could probably knock him flat by herself if she wanted to."

"And what about her?" Mika, one of the green girls, nodded in Tenn's direction. "It's pretty clear that she's got the Force working for her."

"SHE probably could stop all five of us together." Rayna admitted, her eyes narrowing slightly. "But I think that if either she or Jerin meant us any harm, the Zeltrons would have told us by now." That was true enough. The Zeltron race possessed the ability to sense other beings' emotions, which usually meant they knew when someone was lying, if not exactly what they were lying about.

"So, it sounds like you want to stick around, at least for now." Nina surmised.

"Why not?" Rayna shrugged again. "It sure won't hurt to get some new clothes, or to get farther away from Hutt Space."

"Yeah, but who wants to go to karking Eriadu?" Mika grumbled.

"Why not? Where else are you gonna go?" Rayna asked pointedly. "Back to Ryloth? Back to the families that sold us into slavery in the first place?" Mika didn't say anything else.

"You do make a good point there." Nina nodded. "So it sounds like we're going along with Jerin's plan, at least for now."

"I don't see why not." Rayna agreed. "It offers better odds of not ending up homeless, begging for food. And, it might even be... fun." Rayna said the last word very quietly, as if it wasn't supposed to be part of her vocabulary anymore. Even so, no one disagreed with her.

.

A little over an hour later, Joona found herself looking through endless racks of clothes at one of the larger clothing retailers in the shopping center the public speeder had taken them to. They had attracted plenty of attention when they'd first arrived, as most of the shoppers right now seemed to be small groups of teenage human males who weren't actually buying anything. Before long, a trio of security guards had shown up to shoo the gawking teenagers away. Now, the guards were walking a slow perimeter patrol around where the girls were shopping in the store, though the two younger ones were doing plenty of gawking of their own. The oldest, however, actually seemed to consider it his duty to keep anyone from bothering the ladies, and so far he was doing a good job of it.

The manager of the store had been delighted to have so many customers at once, especially this early in the day. He was also surprisingly knowledgeable about women's clothing, Joona thought. But then, it was his job. Even more surprising was that the manager had emerged from storage with several boxes of Twi'lek headdresses in various styles, easily enough for everyone to have a new one if they wanted, and Joona definitely wanted. In fact, she was pretty sure she was going to throw away the shiny black one she was wearing now as soon as she took it off. It wasn't that the headdress wasn't clean; if there was one thing the brothel really did well, it was laundry. It was just that too many bad memories went with it now that she had another choice.

Next to Joona, a twenty one year old Zeltron named Adona Liie also sorted through the endless selection of clothes. Adona was Joona's best friend among the Zeltrons, and usually, her best friend in general. Like Joona, Adona had steadfastly refused to let herself give up on the idea of escaping someday, or ever let herself accept the idea that her "job" defined who she was. However, for a being who could sense everyone else's emotions, that mental fortitude must have been doubly hard to maintain, given that the most common emotion at the brothel was usually complete and utter despair. Right now, Joona was getting a vibe that Adona was mad at her about something.

"I'm still mad at you, you know." Adona was also not real subtle, but Joona liked that about her. It was refreshing that someone at the brothel would simply say what she meant.

Joona was also pretty sure she knew what this was about. "Denan?" She asked meekly.

"You could have shared!" Adona griped even as she nodded. "I always thought we would help each other out if a chance at escape like that ever came up."

"I wasn't that confident yet." Joona explained calmly. "Plus, I wasn't sure I was going to go through with it."

Adona raised an eyebrow at that. "Don't tell me you actually like that doofus."

"I don't know." Joona shrugged, staring at the floor now. "He does have a kind of goofy charm. I didn't want him to get fed to a rancor, anyway." Adona seemed to think that over for a second, before she shrugged and nodded. The Hutts of Clan Desilijic were notorious for feeding beings that displeased them to a wide variety of carnivorous creatures, though rancors seemed to be the favorite. "Anyway, I was planning on notifying the authorities as soon as I could." Joona continued. "The Republic actually enforces its anti-slavery laws in this part of the galaxy, after all. On top of that, it's a moot point, anyway." She sighed. "It turns out that I couldn't have gotten away as long as that thing was in my leg, and I doubt that either Denan or I would have been able to remove it. Not without me passing out from blood loss, anyway."

"I guess you have a point there." Adona admitted. "I suppose it shouldn't be a surprise that a Mandalorian is good at carving people up, even in a positive way. Still..." She looked thoughtful for a second. "I can't help but be a little insulted that I didn't have one too. I thought I brought in just as much money for our owner as you did."

Joona wasn't quite sure how to respond to that at first. "If I brought in more," she began slowly, "I'm sure it was only because I'm Lethan. Besides, I don't think it's anything to be proud of, especially now that we're back in the real world. Also, this may not be the best conversation to be having in public." Joona said in a quieter tone, as she noticed that two local human girls, maybe eleven or twelve years old, were staring at them with wide eyes. Joona took a step toward Adona and dropped her voice to a whisper. "Plus, I don't think that shocker was implanted for monetary reasons." Adona raised an eyebrow at this. "Think about it. Nula and I were the only two who had them, right? What's the one thing that the two of us actually have in common?"

Adona frowned in thought for a moment. "Well, based on some old holos I've seen, when Nula was younger, her boobs were just as spectacular as-"

"NOT that." Joona hissed. "I'm not talking about any physical traits."

Adona frowned in thought again, then, "Oh! You were both the station master's favorite at various points. But still, why would he...?" Adona wasn't sure how to finish her question.

"Because, Force forbid that he lose his favorite and have to make do with the dozens of other girls he has access to." Joona's eyes narrowed. Bardo Green, the station manager of Kuat Drive Yards' twelfth platform, must have ordered that the shocker be implanted during one of the times when Joona had been put under to have a fresh tracking device swapped in for the old one.

"But, if he had the authority to order something like that, then..." Adona was clearly mad now.

"Then he was lying when he said he didn't have the authority to have us released." Joona nodded. "And you know what? As mad as I am about that, I'm just as mad at myself for not realizing he was lying. After all, no matter how powerful Gadran the Hutt might be, he couldn't do business on that platform without Green's permission."

"You're mad at yourself?" Adona let out a long sigh. "Don't be. I'm the one who's supposed to be able to tell when people are lying."

"Just out of curiousity..." Joona was eager to change the subject. "Has Jerin lied about anything?" She didn't think he had, but it didn't hurt to double check.

"Nope." Adona shook her head right away. "That's the main reason I haven't talked Tenn into using that credcard to book five tickets to Zeltros on the next transport out."

"Oh, I guess Zeltros isn't too far from here, is it?" Joona was surprised that she hadn't realized it. Unlike the Twi'leks, the humans and Zeltrons at the brothel hadn't been sold into slavery. They had either been captured in pirate raids, or born to parents who were already slaves. As such, there was no real reason why they shouldn't head back to their worlds of origin.

"Yeah, Jerin's ship could probably make it in a couple hours." Adona nodded. "Even on a public transport, it probably wouldn't take over six hours."

"Are you guys thinking of taking off?" Joona wondered, somewhat worried by the sudden burst of anxiety she felt at the idea of being separated from Adona.

"Well, I can't speak for the other Zeltrons, but I'm not." Adona grinned. "Zeltros isn't going anywhere, and I've never been within 20,000 light years of Eriadu. Besides, I get the feeling that Eriadu isn't going to be the end of it."

"Oh yeah? Why's that?" Joona was smiling now too, mainly out of relief.

"I can't really give you a solid explanation. There's just been so much weird stuff happening since Jerin showed up, I really doubt that he'll drop us off on Eriadu and never see us again." Adona shrugged. "I mean, we've got rival Hutt clans and dark jedi mixed up in our escape now. And, if Jerin could somehow put us all up at the most exclusive resort in the galaxy in order to make Gadran furious, I bet he'd do it."

"Why DOES he hate Gadran so much?" Joona wondered. "He's clearly not hurting for money, so I doubt that it's about a bad business deal."

"No." Adona shook her head. "He hides it well, but Jerin is carrying a whole lot of grief that I don't think has EVER been properly expressed."

"Gadran killed someone important to him." Joona stated it as a fact, not a guess. "Someone he loved."

"I think so, yeah." Adona agreed. "It makes more sense than any other theory I could come up with."

"Well then..." Joona looked up at the ceiling, lost in thought for a second. "If we stick with him long enough, we might get to see Gadran die."

To Joona's surprise, Adona frowned slightly in response. "It's an appealing thought, but if we were close enough to see it happen, we'd probably be in more than our fair share of danger."

Joona's eyes narrowed once again. "Kark it, I'll put the blaster bolt between the fat slug's eyes myself if I get the chance. Jerin's not the only one with a reason to hate him."

Adona's frown deepened. "Joona, your emotions right now are... kind of scary. Let's focus on the positive stuff, all right? We can do whatever we want, and we get free clothes." She turned back to the clothing rack that Joona had completely forgotten about.

"Yeah, good point." Joona nodded, though she was still thinking about helping Jerin get revenge. To do that, she'd have to find a compelling reason for Jerin to keep her on board after the other girls left, and she had a feeling that the most obvious idea that came to mind wasn't going to work. Not on Jerin, anyway.

.

"It's true what they say. Beauty really is an absolute curse!" - Winry Rockbell, _Fullmetal Alchemist_

.

(Nanaki's note: All right, before you all start leaving comments about how Clone Wars ret-conned the galaxy so that Ryloth has day and night just like every other planet, read the rest of this note. I HATE that Clone Wars did that. They took something that made Ryloth unique and interesting, then got rid of it for no reason I can see. True, Lucas can do whatever he wants to his galaxy, without bothering to ask the fans what they think. Still, this is MY story, and I can do whatever I want here. But for those of you who demand an in-universe explanation, here it is: Just before their invasion of Ryloth, the CIS forces used an experimental gravity control device to tilt Ryloth on its axis ninety degrees, hoping to throw the population of the planet into chaos. It worked, up to a point, but soon enough the Twi'leks got used to having night and day, just like they have on every other world they live on. Shortly after the rise of the Empire, Palpatine and others who shared his human supremacist ideology realized that the CIS experiment had resulted in Ryloth having a LOT more land suitable for habitation and farming. Not liking the impending Twi'lek population boom, Palpatine ordered that the same device (or a freshly constructed one, if the original was destroyed in the Clone Wars) be used to tilt Ryloth's axis back the way it had been. As a bonus, this even allowed Palpatine to score some points with most Twi'lek leaders on Ryloth, who were grateful that he had restored their world to its natural state. And there's your in-universe explanation. Plus, let's go ahead with...

Character Name Origins #5: Joona Sohm

The Star Wars galaxy is packed with both planetary and individual names with the oo sound. Consider: Naboo, Nute Gunray, Tatooine, the double whammy of Count Dooku, Luke Skywalker himself, Dantooine, and Oola, just from the actual movies. The expanded universe gives us a whole bunch more: Ulic Qel-Droma, Exar Kun, Klatooine, Ood B'nar, Ludo Kressh, Kooriva, and another double whammy in Jedi Master Ooroo. I wanted a "Double O" name for one of my characters, and that's where "Joona" came from. The last name simply came from an "Enough already!" feeling on my part. My first thought was "Tenona". Seriously. Then I actually looked at it, and asked myself, "What's Denan's last name going to be? Jerinson?" Next, I changed it to "Zanona", but that still didn't feel right, probably because it wasn't different enough from "Tenona". Finally, I just said, "Screw it, let's make it a short one." So, that's where "Sohm" came from. I belatedly realized that this could be something of a play on words, especially if you've just watched the "Phantom Planet" episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. As in, "So, some?" or "Looks like 'some' is rapidly approaching 'none'." But, it's not really pronounced as "some", at least in my mind. Emphasize the H as much you can, ("Can't have a pie without Cool Hwip!") and you'll probably be pronouncing "Sohm" like I would. Anyway, look for another chapter in the not too distant future. Probably before Halloween, anyway.)


End file.
